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Key insights from
Meditations
By
Marcus Aurelius
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What you’ll learn
According to Machiavelli, Marcus Aurelius Antonius (121-180
AD) was the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome. He was also a
successful military strategist and a Stoic philosopher. The majority of his
Meditations were written in the final years of his life between
military campaigns, and they have served as a window into ancient Stoicism
and an inspiration for many on how to live well.
Read on for key insights from Meditations.
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1. Giving in to
your anger, getting pulled into the anger of others, and leeching off of
life without being part of it are all miserable ways to live.
Every morning, when you rise to meet the day, remind
yourself that during the day you will have to contend with people who are
unpleasant, resentful, envious, and deceitful. They don’t know right from
wrong, but you do, and you know that both right and wrong reside in you and
them, for you have a common nature—regardless of social standing or
pedigree. That nature is a divine nature, and that common bond with others
means we must learn to work together, like parts of the same body working
toward common goals.
Those who cause evil cannot make you angry unless you give
them permission to do so. When you let your mind become enslaved by every
self-absorbed urge, or be yanked around by present circumstances or fear of
the future, you give up self-possession. Have enough respect for yourself
not to make your joy dependent on another.
Never forget that the soul denigrates itself when it
abandons people or seeks to hurt them, when it is at the mercy of pleasure
or pain, when its choices are haphazard and disconnected from a goal, when
it hides true thoughts and shares something fake, and, most especially,
when it becomes a parasite that takes from the world while standing back
and refusing to be part of it.
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2. When people
obsess over the lives and opinions of others, they forget to cultivate
their own.
Unless someone is harming society and the common good, do
not preoccupy yourself with the lives of others. You can get so caught up
with who is doing what and why that you fail to do anything meaningful
yourself. Being overly concerned with the affairs of others will cloud your
thoughts.
Don’t let trivial concerns hinder a focused train of
thought. Make a practice of brushing aside the petty and the vicious clutter.
You want your thoughts so accessible to you that if anyone asks what you
are thinking, you can say with confidence and precision what’s on your
mind. This is the kind of person who knows what is in him and is truly
humble, free of frivolity, unfazed by pain, and takes whatever befalls him
in stride. He does what the gods have given him to do, and views the future
with a sense of eager anticipation. He cares for others because that comes
with the territory of being human, but he doesn’t need their praise or
opinions. The one who lives according to the nature of things is the one to
whom you should listen. And those who don’t? Pay attention to them, too,
and to the company they keep. When they compliment you, do not take it to
heart. Fine words carry little weight.
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3. The best way to
“get away from it all” is to turn your attention inward to your soul from
time to time.
When people want to escape their lives, they fantasize about
getting out of the city to the beaches or the mountains. You probably do, too.
It’s an absurd longing, considering the serenity you seek is always
available to you when you take a moment to turn inward. Endless,
interruption-free calm is available to the person who does this.
These visits to your soul don’t need to become extended
vacations. They can be short and sweet, and that’s really all you need to
reenter life revitalized and ready to face its challenges again. And
really, what in life was so horrible that you wanted to escape or to gripe
about? Was it the bad attitudes or actions of others? Never forget that if
you are rational, you exist for the sake of others, and doing good to
others will mean being tolerant and choosing not to argue.
Also remember that the more attached your soul is to the
body, the more you will be carried away by the highs and lows of life’s
pains and pleasures, and the more you will gripe about your circumstances
and what life has allotted you. But once your soul realizes what it is and
detaches from the body’s hunger for sensation and comfort, you can take all
that life throws at you in stride.
So whatever your life contains and whatever you are
pursuing—annoying people, pain, pleasure, the applause from a fickle
crowd—becoming at home in your soul will help you face them all without
overextending yourself.
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4. If you want to
be satisfied with life, do what you were made to do.
So many frequently used words and phrases eventually fade
into anachronism. So do the names of even society’s most famous and highly
regarded individuals. Heroes become legends and myths lost to the abyss
like everyone else, from the prominent politician to the obscure farmer.
Alexander the Great and his slave both died and were buried and broke down
into atoms. There is no renown and glory that time won’t eventually
extinguish.
Amidst the business of your life, don’t forget your
mortality. Like Alexander the Great and his slave, you will face death, and
your name will become a distant echo. Life’s transience raises the question
of what we should be living for, of what it means to live well. The good
life is found in unselfish action, right understanding, and honest speech.
Honor and respect the gods, treat others justly, be indulgent toward others
but exacting toward yourself, and let go of what is beyond your control
(which is almost everything).
You have your flesh and bones and decisions. Care most about
what you do with them. Choose to do what you were made to do. Education and
instruction aim to guide you to that end. If you do what you were made to
do, instead of elevating all the other things that others were made to do,
you will be satisfied with your life and be content to let others be
satisfied with theirs. Otherwise you will begin plotting their demise
rather than plotting your own life’s course. Life will inevitably become a disaster,
never good enough for people who live this way. But those who follow their
design are deeply satisfied with life, knitting themselves into the fabric
of their communities, and staying connected to the divine.
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5. Embrace
setbacks and they will be the making of you.
Nature prescribes a personalized treatment for each of us in
the same way that a doctor does. Just as we take our medicine and accept
the regimen the doctor assigns, we would do well to see what nature deals
us as part of our recovery and advancement toward our destiny, even if what
nature prescribes seems like an ailment at first. She could prescribe you
the loss of a family member, your sight, or a limb. Accept it as ordained
by nature or you will find yourself at war against nature–a war that never
goes well for those who challenge her.
When you fight and get angry over fate and obsess over how
nasty and grueling the whole affair is, you will miss what it has to teach
you. If you wish to heal, embrace it instead of thrashing around, even
though it’s difficult.
So when people off-handedly comment that it’s unfortunate
this or that happened to you, you can tell them that, no, it’s actually
quite fortunate. You have taken the blow and accepted it without letting it
completely disorient you in the moment or make you fearful about the
future. The same calamity could have befallen anyone else, and it might
have crushed them, but it has fallen on you, and you are moving through it
to become stronger than you were before. You are still able to act with
courage, wisdom, and generosity of heart toward others, right?
Never forget that what could be a misfortune is about to be
transformed into the greatest fortune through your persevering through it.
Your obstacles are your paths to victory.
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Endnotes
These insights are
just an introduction. If you're ready to dive deeper, pick up a copy of
Meditations here. And since we get a commission on every
sale, your purchase will help keep this newsletter free.
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