Meditations
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Meditations
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Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 121 to 180. Marcus Aurelius believed that human happiness arises in part from man’s acceptance of his duties and responsibilities. He believed that one should accept calmly what cannot be avoided and perform one’s duties as well as possible. From the introduction ” By the irony of fate this man, so gentle and good, so desirous of quiet joys and a mind free from care, was set at the head of the Roman Empire when great dangers threatened from east and west. For several years he himself commanded his armies in chief. In camp before the Quadi he dates the first book of his Meditations, and shows how he could retire within himself amid the coarse clangour of arms. The pomps and glories which he despised were all his; what to most men is an ambition or a dream, to him was a round of weary tasks which nothing but the stern sense of duty could carry him through. And he did his work well. His wars were slow and tedious, but successful. With a statesman’s wisdom he foresaw the danger to Rome of the barbarian hordes from the north, and took measures to meet it. As it was, his settlement gave two centuries of respite to the Roman Empire; had he fulfilled the plan of pushing the imperial frontiers to the Elbe, which seems to have been in his mind, much more might have been accomplished. But death cut short his designs.”Amazon.com Review
One measure, perhaps, of a book’s worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation–as a self-help book–is not only valid, but may be close to the author’s intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a “haphazard set of notes,” is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is “expected to provide a ‘design for living.'” And it does, both aphoristically (“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”) and rhetorically (“What is it in ourselves that we should prize?”). Whether these, and other entries (“Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.”) sound life-changing or like entries in a teenager’s diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hays’s introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty. –H. O’Billovich
Meditations
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This second-century book of advice reflects its stoic deistic/atheist tradition. In a word, his goal is to encourage the reader toward good works and inner peace disregarding personal circumstances. He ends up sounding much like Confucius, and much like the “under the sun” part of King Solomon’s Ecclesiastes. The arguments he gives for us to be at peace despite the continual thriving of evil around us center around its chaos and our own inability to change anything. Such a view is profoundly unsatisfying, and leaves us in perplexity over the purpose of it all, anchorless and hopeless. Whereas Aurelius says “The world is chaotic, but you’re powerless so be a man and do right”, Solomon says “The world is chaotic because man is inwardly evil, but take heart because it’s all part of God’s righteous and sovereign plan and part of that plan is our salvation.” Life against God is meaningless, no matter how many nice things you do; life under His loving care is meaningful, because we have a sure hope of redemption and life to come.
This second-century book of advice reflects its stoic deistic/atheist tradition. In a word, his goal is to encourage the reader toward good works and inner peace disregarding personal circumstances. He ends up sounding much like Confucius, and much like the “under the sun” part of King Solomon’s Ecclesiastes. The arguments he gives for us to be at peace despite the continual thriving of evil around us center around its chaos and our own inability to change anything. Such a view is profoundly unsatisfying, and leaves us in perplexity over the purpose of it all, anchorless and hopeless. Whereas Aurelius says “The world is chaotic, but you’re powerless so be a man and do right”, Solomon says “The world is chaotic because man is inwardly evil, but take heart because it’s all part of God’s righteous and sovereign plan and part of that plan is our salvation.” Life against God is meaningless, no matter how many nice things you do; life under His loving care is meaningful, because we have a sure hope of redemption and life to come.
This second-century book of advice reflects its stoic deistic/atheist tradition. In a word, his goal is to encourage the reader toward good works and inner peace disregarding personal circumstances. He ends up sounding much like Confucius, and much like the “under the sun” part of King Solomon’s Ecclesiastes. The arguments he gives for us to be at peace despite the continual thriving of evil around us center around its chaos and our own inability to change anything. Such a view is profoundly unsatisfying, and leaves us in perplexity over the purpose of it all, anchorless and hopeless. Whereas Aurelius says “The world is chaotic, but you’re powerless so be a man and do right”, Solomon says “The world is chaotic because man is inwardly evil, but take heart because it’s all part of God’s righteous and sovereign plan and part of that plan is our salvation.” Life against God is meaningless, no matter how many nice things you do; life under His loving care is meaningful, because we have a sure hope of redemption and life to come.
I have owned this title for a number of years and enjoyed it when I first read it. The emperor sought to be a living model of the philosopher-ruler typified by Plato in “The Republic”. Had Marcus Aurelius lived the totality of what he wrote in his “Meditations”,he would have been great indeed! History tells of him being a fierce persecutor of the Christians. Many innocent people died by his orders since they would not renounce their faith. A leader-philosopher can also be judged on his treatment of the most defenseless of the citizenry (or subjects). He fancied to be a Stoic at heart but certainly was not a genuine humanitarian.
I’ve been living on this Earth for decades now and I have, naturally, wondered about God. I studied the different religions and learned to respect them all. For this reason I have proclaimed myself for more than ten years: A Jewish Muslim practicing Christianity as a Budhist in Nature. It is my self discovery, so I like to think, as to what my religion is. Then, recently, I read the book, “Meditations”, by Marcus Aurelius.
In this book you see the transformation of a man, who begins as a believer of “the gods” and ends in believing in one God, which he points to as being the one Soul, one Universe, that encapsulates everything in it. Aurelius wrote all this right around when Christianity was forming, but there is no mention of it anywhere in this book. Nor is there any mention of Judaism.
Aurelius wrote the book more than 1900 years ago, yet it is as fresh as the birth of a baby… of an idea. Idea of one God. Although this wasn’t anyting new at the time, it did get legitimized when a Roman Emperor began the self-discovery for the world to follow. Anything before that, so it seems, was merely the incubation period.
A very large portion of the book, however, is about practical life on Earth. An how-to book, if you will. About life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Clearly the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were influenced by this book; or other works inspired by the Meditations.