Marcus Aurelius Meditations

Marcus occasionally urges himself to give up books and reading in favour of the more serious enterprise of self-mastery and self-improvement. This inner retreat is his fortress (as he calls it). His Meditations are our portal into that acropolis.

For a philosopher seeking to guide himself repetition is a philosophical virtue. Repetition is a form of spiritual exercise designed to reinforce the main principles of Marcus’ philosophy; its purpose is to effect a ‘dyeing of the soul’. Three of the most common imperatives Marcus addresses to himself are: ‘Remember’, ‘Keep in mind’, ‘Do not forget’

Intent on freedom - staying kind, simple and decent

For Plato and the Greek Philosophers who follow him there were four cardinal virtues. We have noticed them in passing. They are: Prudent self control, Practical intelligence, Courage and Justice. Marcus wanted to be: ‘Good, simple, individual, bare, brighter than the body that covers you...(disposed to) love and affection...free of need, missing nothing, desiring nothing’. The virtue of honesty, truthfulness, and a courageous recognition of reality combine into one of the most important of the virtues of the Meditations, integrity.

Book 1

4: From my great-grandfather: not to have attended schools for the public; to have good teachers at home, and to realise that this is the sort of thing on which one should spend lavishly

Book 4

3: Men seek retreats for themselves - in the country, by the sea, in the hills - and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophical, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation than that into his own mind, especially if he can dip into thoughts there which put him at immediate and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well-ordered life. So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself. The doctrines you will visit there should be few and fundamental, sufficient at one meeting to wash away all your pain and send you back free of resentment at what you must rejoin.

4: Finally, then, remember this retreat into your own little territory within yourself. Above all, no agonies, no tensions. Be your own master, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a moral creature. And here are two of the most immediately useful thoughts you will dip into. First that things cannot touch the mind: they are external and inert; anxieties can only come from your internal judgement. Second, that all these things you see will change almost as you look at them, and then will be no more. Constantly bring to mind all that you yourself have already seen changed. The universe is change: life is judgement.

Book 5

21: Revere the ultimate power in the universe: this is what makes use of all things and directs all things. But similarly revere the ultimate power in yourself: this is akin to that other power. In you too this is what makes use of all else, and your life is governed by it

37: ‘There was a time when I met luck at every turn.’ But luck is the good fortune you determine for yourself: and good fortune consists in good inclinations of the soul, good impulses, good actions

Book 6

19: Do not imagine that, if something is hard for you to achieve, it is therefore impossible for any man: but rather consider anything that is humanly possible and appropriate to lie within your own reach too

29: Disgraceful if, in this life where your body does not fail, your soul should fail first

30: Never put anything at all aside without first looking closely into it and understanding it clearly. Never rush anything. Be content with little by way of house, bed, dress, food, servants, love of work and own personal stamina. Live with a frugal diet and always be delighted to be shown a better way. You are AWAKE

49: You do not resent your weight, do you - that you weigh only so many pounds and not three hundred? So why resent either a life-span of so many years and not more? Just as you are content with the amount of matter allocated to you, so you should be content with your allocation of time +dontmanipulate

Nature - Universe - Meditate

Book 7

56: Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before this moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus, and live it as nature directs

67: The way nature has blended you into the compound whole does not prevent you drawing a boundary around yourself and keeping what is your own in your own control. Always remember this: remember too that the happy life depends on VERY LITTLE. And do not think, just because you have given up hope of becoming a philosopher or a scientist, you should therefore despair of a free spirit, integrity, social conscience, obedience to god. It is wholly possible to become a ‘divine man’ without anybody’s recognition

73: When you have done good and another has benefited, why do you still look, as fools do, for a third thing besides - credit for good works, or a return? (Ego/Instagram)

74: No-one tires of receiving benefit: and action in accordance with nature is your own benefit. Do not tire of benefit gained by benefit given

Book 8

33: Accept humbly: let go easily

43: Joy varies from person to person. My joy is if I keep directing mind pure, denying no human being or human circumstance, but looking on all things with kindly eyes, giving welcome or use to each as it deserves

46: Universal nature has brought you nothing you can’t endure

48: Remember that your directing mind becomes invincible when it withdraws into its own self sufficiency, not doing anything it does not wish to do, even if its position is unreasonable. How much more, then, when the judgement it forms is reasoned and deliberate? That is why a mind free from passions is a fortress: people have no stronger place of retreat, and someone taking refuge here is then impregnable. Anyone who has not seen this is short of wisdom: anyone who has seen it and does not take refuge is short of fortune

51: Do not be dilatory in action, muddled in communication, or vague in thought. Don’t let your mind settle into depression or elation. Allow some leisure in your life

‘They kill, they cut in pieces, they hunt with curses.’ What relevance has this to keeping your mind pure, sane, sober, just? As if a man were to come up to a spring of clear, sweet water and curse it - it would still continue to bubble up water good to drink. He could throw in mud or dung: in no time the spring will break it down, wash it away, and take no colour from it. How then can you secure an everlasting spring and not a cistern? By keeping yourself at all times intent on freedom - and staying kind, simple and decent

Book 9

13: Today I escaped from all bothering circumstances - or rather I threw them out. They were nothing external, but inside me, just my own judgements

14: All things are the same: familiar in experience, transient in time, sordid in substance. Everything now is as it was in the days of those we have buried

37: Make yourself simpler, and better. Three years is as good as a hundred in this quest

40: But you might say: ‘The Gods have put these things in my own power.’ Is it not then better to use your own power in freedom rather than show a servile and supine concern for what you cannot control? And who told you that the Gods do not help us even to the ends which lie within our own power? At any rate, pray about these things, and you will see. One man prays: ‘How can I sleep with that woman?’ Your prayer is: ‘How can I lose the desire to sleep with her?’ Another prays: ‘How can I be rid of that man?’ You pray: ‘How can I stop wanting to be rid of him?’ Another: ‘How can I save my little child? You:’How can I learn not to fear his loss?’ And so on. Give all your prayers this turn, and observe what happens

41: Concentrate only on the work of the moment, and the instrument you use for its doing

42: Gentleness is given as the antidote to cruelty. Man was made to do good

Book 10

15: Live in accordance to nature

16: No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man.Be one!

18: Consider any existing object and reflect that it is even now in the process of dissolution and change, in a sense regenerating through decay or dispersal: in other words, to what sort of ‘death’ each thing is born

Governed by nature - Nature of the Universe - I am part of a whole so constituted will leave me happy

The parts (Humans/Animals/Plants), The whole (Universe/Earth)

Book 11

6: When you are high in indignation and perhaps losing patience, remember that human life is a mere fragment of time and shortly we are all in our graves