Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations

Marcus Aurelius’ was a Roman emperor who also was devoted to philosophy and wrote some still widely read texts, largely in the Stoic vein.  His best known work, Meditations, is still in large circulation.  This is not your classic philosphy text, an organized and logical exposition of various issues.  It is a collection of thoughts he jotted down, almost in diary form; a way of compiling his thoughts on how to live.  Much of it reads as exhortations to self, reminders of how to keep himself from being distracted by lesser matters.  Stoicism is often misunderstood as a passive acceptance of what befalls us.  While acceptance of the inevitable, such as death, or things that happen out of our control, is part of the philosophy, it is also an active prescription of how to handle daily life and other people; how to ignore the minor and focus on the important.

Particularly striking is the constant theme of acceptance of death as an essential part of nature’s order,  and the foolishness of worrying about how we will be remembered.  Aurelius points out the numerous famous people of his time who were already forgotten.  In essence he says that the rememberers will all also die.  Also striking are his observations of society and various types of people, amazingly similar to what we see and hear today, two thousand years later.  This is a book worthy of reading and reflecting upon, it is easy to get through.  You will understand why it remains a useful guide to living in a certain way that may reduce anxiety, depression, loss of autonomy and other modern ills.