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A review by forgottensecret
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
5.0
'Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.'
I have carried this text in a pale brown shoulder bag through airports, Marcus's pondering face tucked between boarding passes folded in a passport and a half-drunk bottle of strawberry water. On landing, I have read it during periods of free time while doing volunteer work in Poland and Germany. An argument could be made that if I hadn't read this book, those transformative periods might never have happened. As a departure from my normal reviews, and because this book is so special to me, I am going to list some of the reasons why I consider this to be one of the best written works:
1. It was never intended to be published. Written between 161-180AD, in Koine Greek, Marcus wrote these notes privately (this is also the exact same period of his reign as Roman Emperor). Therefore, there is no need for him to embellish; this is as close as an intimation of him as one could possibly find through the written word. He is not writing for an audience, unlike the edict of most other books. Even Seneca's Letters to Lucilius were written in such a way as for a general audience, and Epictetus's 'Discourses' and 'Enchidrion' were not Epictetus himself but his student Arrian transcribing lessons at his school in Nicopolis. Furthermore, unlike the arguable dissonance between Seneca's Stoic view and his actual life choices (as claimed by Robin Campbell in the Introduction to 'Letters from a Stoic'), by all accounts, Marcus's life choices actually corresponded to his philosophy.
There is a sanctity, an intimacy and sacredness in being able to step into the privacy of Marcus's thoughts. The book itself, to me, although now bearing rips and tears over the years, still transmits an ineffable luminosity. It is not quite a Stoic 'Shroud of Turin', but there is something almost transcendent about it. Marcus, of course, is not the only person to have their private journals published. Posthumously, Sylvia Plath, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Frank, and Virginia Woolf are just some of those whose journals we can now peer into. They each contain their own marvel, but what separates this is that none of the aforementioned held the position as the most powerful person in the world; and only Marcus has trained deeply in a Stoic tradition (At the time, Stoicism was the most popular philosophy in the Graeco-Roman world, and being adopted by his predecessor, Antonine Pius, Marcus had access to the best education available - of which Stoic training was a big part). With less than 1% of Stoic teachings surviving, Marcus's diaries are one of the only presentations of how a Stoic steeped in that philosophy from an early age thinks. Because of the decline of Stoicism, this blend of early training in that philosophy, and a corresponding society who esteems it will likely not happen again. Similarly, even if those conditions were in place, society at large would not have access to the calibre of tutors that an emperor in training like Marcus would receive. This is why modern-day Stoics will be inexorably bereft of the cluster of conditions which lead to such a unique viewpoint found in the 'Meditations'.
To emphasise the luck of having Marcus's writings (which is not conclusively mentioned until the early 10th century by a bishop called Arethas of Caesarea), I think of it as analogous, from a Stoic perspective, to discovering the private journals of a disciple of Jesus, or a close companion of the Buddha. Intrinsic to the teachings of Stoicism, we gain access through this work to what it can take to live well. As can be quickly seen in the 'Meditations', to live well demands the acrobatics of reason and visualisation (what Pierre Hadot called 'spiritual exercises'). It requires one to constantly try to outwit their lower nature, and never settle for the complaints or obstinacy that this part inevitably chimes.
2. I have never read a book that has so many practical exercises. Books that are published as self-help, or that are focused on the development of mental toughness fall short of the range of exercises available in Marcus's journals. Over the course of 19 years, he is incessantly creative in reframing situations and dealing with the contents of reality. His approach is a complete refutation to the trend of searching for '5 steps to change your mind!'. He demonstrates that we will never find one method which will allow us to retain a perpetual drive, an emotional equilibrium or that texturise our decisions with infallibility (just as all things in Nature require a contingency of factors to arise, so too can we not settle on one factor). In the downpouring of time and the dynamism of Nature, we learn to similarly operate with such flexibility and continually develop new ways of perceiving the world.
3. It allows one to internalise a new way of thinking. Because we are seeing, essentially the journals of the man, we are seeing how he thought. Having read the 'Meditations' so many times, in an intentional manner, it has changed my thinking. This includes using more analogies in my arguments to reason myself into an action or a habit. For example, suppose that I don't want to do my work for the day, then, before I read Marcus's text, I would have tried to convince myself in terms of what I can achieve or what I might lose in not doing the task (as covered in Heidi Grant Halvorson's 'Succeed'). These are suitable ways to generate energy for a task, but Marcus, working always from the Stoic assumption that we should live according to our nature (which I discuss in my review of 'Lessons in Stoicism' by John Sellars), forms analogies for why he should do something:
'At break of day, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready to mind: 'I am getting up for a man's work. Do I still then resent it, if if I am going out to do what I was born for, the purpose for which I was brought into the world? Or was I created to wrap myself in blankets and keep warm?' 'But this is more pleasant.' Were you born then for pleasure - for all feeling, not for action? Can you not see plants, birds, ants, spiders, bees all doing their own work, each helping in their own way to order the world? And then you do not want to do the work of a human being - you do not hurry to the demands of your own nature. 'But one needs rest too.' One does indeed: I agree. But nature has set limits to this too, just as it has to eating and drinking, and yet you go beyond these limits, beyond what you need. Not in your actions, though, not any longer: here you stay below your capability.
The point is that you do not love yourself - otherwise you would both your own nature and her purpose for you.' (Book 5)
As an additional recent example, I am currently learning the piano. Supported by Marcus and the teachings from Stoicism, if I try to skirt an hour of playing, I will ask myself: what does Nature demand? By analogy, if a man in 1930s Kyoto wanted to play the piano, and he gave excuses for abandoning practice on a Tuesday afternoon, would they hold under scrutiny? Does Nature or the piano care about those excuses? Marcus's thinking is always to reject the 'certainty', or airtight quality of feelings and excuses, and to reason himself from the seduction of their bind. Here are a few example of other ways he would use reason or visualisations to unbind himself:
'Constantly reflect that all the things which happen now have happened before: reflect too that they will happen again in the future. Have in your mind's eye whole dramas with similar settings, all that you know of from your own experience or earlier history - for example, the court of Hadrian, the whole court of Antoninus, the whole court of Philip, Alexander, Croesus. All the same as now: just a different cast.
Picture everyone voicing pain or discontent at anything, as like a pig at a sacrifice, kicking and squealing. Just the same is the man who keeps it to himself, silently resentful on his bed. Think of all the threads that bind us, and how only rational creatures, are given the choice of submitting willingly to events: pure submission is forced on all.' (Book 10)
4. We learn how to develop a cosmic perspective. This is partly why I would always recommend Marcus foremost over the other two main Stoics. Marcus, more than Seneca and Epictetus, uses exercises from Stoic physics. These exercises are incredibly liberating, and unusual as a matter of experience. For those interested in a guided version of these exercises, author Donald Robertson has kindly made one available on SoundCloud called 'View from Above'. Returning to Marcus, here are some of the other cosmic exercises he might use (One can imagine him employing these during the perfunctory tasks of the day, physically in the room with his advisors but in his mind he is drifting in concert with the stars):
'Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let you mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.
Further, when your talk is about mankind, view earthly things as if looking down on them from some point high above - flocks, armies, farms, weddings, divorces, births, deaths, the hubbub of the law-courts, desert places, various foreign nations, funerals, markets; all the medley of the world and the ordered conjunction of opposites.' (Book 7)
'Further, the rational soul traverses the whole universe and its surrounding void, explores the shape of it, stretches into the infinity of time, encompasses and comprehends the periodic regeneration of the Whole. It reflects that our successors will see nothing new, just as our predecessors saw nothing more than we do: such is the sameness of things, a man of forty with any understanding whatsoever has in a sense seen all the past and all the future.' (Book 10)
'Keep constantly in your mind an impression of the whole of time and the whole of existence - and the thought that each individual thing is, on the scale of existence, a mere fig-seed; on the scale of time, one turn of a drill.' (Book 10)
5. Under the Stoic assumption of living according to nature, Marcus will always aim to do what is for the best for the Whole (which excises any misperceptions that Stoicism is an emotionally barren philosophy). Reminiscent of Shantideva's 'The Way of the Bodhissatva', and the guiding aim of Mahayana Buddhists, Marcus is concerned with helping others. (This also reminds me of a quote from 'Team of Rivals' by Doris Kearns Goodwin, in which she quoted another man with a heft of responsibility, Abe Lincoln: 'Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.')
Being part of Nature and being a social animal, Marcus is similarly aware of the the function that Nature has asked him to fulfill:
'Have I done something for the common good? Then I too have benefited. Have this thought always ready to hand: and no stopping.' (Book 10)
'It follows that the aim we should set ourselves is a social aim, the benefit of our fellow citizens. A man directing all his own impulses to this end will be consistent in all his actions, and therefore the same man throughout.' (Book 10)
6. Finally, Marcus has an intimate relationship with Nature. As can be deduced from the points above, just as a committed Muslim will have Allah daily in their thoughts, or as a devoted Christian will have God in theirs, so too does Marcus enter into communion with Nature repeatedly. This is partly why his writings are so loaded with analogies, and why his exercises are centred on almost taking the POV of aspects of Nature (Nature can be seen as a partnership of space and time, and many of his exercises take on a POV through the corridor of time, or a transportation of consciousness in space). This is a much fuller way to live. Rather than concentrate on only the aspect of being born of parents and of country, and 'forgetting' the physical laws and phenomena which Nature has prepared for that basket of birth, we can instead hold this dual view of Marcus. We can be grateful to our parents, but also bear in mind our historical context and the breadth of reality - this is similar to the primacy that Martin Heidegger gives the world for Dasein in 'Being and Time', or in the way that French philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, describes human beings inhabiting as a 'fold' in the world. Then, in making decisions, or emotionally relating in the world, we can reach for analogies to other parts of Nature: making comparisons and contrasts to the diversity of flora and fauna that are born out of that same source, to those who have preceded our own invocation into Nature and to those living a parallel existence.
For anyone who yearns to reach their potential, you must read this book. Trying to close the self-actualising gap can sometimes be a lonely journey, especially if we don't have close contact with others who are similarly driven. But in owning a copy of the 'Meditations', we inaugurate a union with a person who harboured those same aspirations, while holding a position of immense responsibility. In addition, this relationship can mature past a historical companionship, as one's thoughts and interactions with life are reanimated by the perspective of a Stoic. I give this the highest recommendation.
I have carried this text in a pale brown shoulder bag through airports, Marcus's pondering face tucked between boarding passes folded in a passport and a half-drunk bottle of strawberry water. On landing, I have read it during periods of free time while doing volunteer work in Poland and Germany. An argument could be made that if I hadn't read this book, those transformative periods might never have happened. As a departure from my normal reviews, and because this book is so special to me, I am going to list some of the reasons why I consider this to be one of the best written works:
1. It was never intended to be published. Written between 161-180AD, in Koine Greek, Marcus wrote these notes privately (this is also the exact same period of his reign as Roman Emperor). Therefore, there is no need for him to embellish; this is as close as an intimation of him as one could possibly find through the written word. He is not writing for an audience, unlike the edict of most other books. Even Seneca's Letters to Lucilius were written in such a way as for a general audience, and Epictetus's 'Discourses' and 'Enchidrion' were not Epictetus himself but his student Arrian transcribing lessons at his school in Nicopolis. Furthermore, unlike the arguable dissonance between Seneca's Stoic view and his actual life choices (as claimed by Robin Campbell in the Introduction to 'Letters from a Stoic'), by all accounts, Marcus's life choices actually corresponded to his philosophy.
There is a sanctity, an intimacy and sacredness in being able to step into the privacy of Marcus's thoughts. The book itself, to me, although now bearing rips and tears over the years, still transmits an ineffable luminosity. It is not quite a Stoic 'Shroud of Turin', but there is something almost transcendent about it. Marcus, of course, is not the only person to have their private journals published. Posthumously, Sylvia Plath, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Frank, and Virginia Woolf are just some of those whose journals we can now peer into. They each contain their own marvel, but what separates this is that none of the aforementioned held the position as the most powerful person in the world; and only Marcus has trained deeply in a Stoic tradition (At the time, Stoicism was the most popular philosophy in the Graeco-Roman world, and being adopted by his predecessor, Antonine Pius, Marcus had access to the best education available - of which Stoic training was a big part). With less than 1% of Stoic teachings surviving, Marcus's diaries are one of the only presentations of how a Stoic steeped in that philosophy from an early age thinks. Because of the decline of Stoicism, this blend of early training in that philosophy, and a corresponding society who esteems it will likely not happen again. Similarly, even if those conditions were in place, society at large would not have access to the calibre of tutors that an emperor in training like Marcus would receive. This is why modern-day Stoics will be inexorably bereft of the cluster of conditions which lead to such a unique viewpoint found in the 'Meditations'.
To emphasise the luck of having Marcus's writings (which is not conclusively mentioned until the early 10th century by a bishop called Arethas of Caesarea), I think of it as analogous, from a Stoic perspective, to discovering the private journals of a disciple of Jesus, or a close companion of the Buddha. Intrinsic to the teachings of Stoicism, we gain access through this work to what it can take to live well. As can be quickly seen in the 'Meditations', to live well demands the acrobatics of reason and visualisation (what Pierre Hadot called 'spiritual exercises'). It requires one to constantly try to outwit their lower nature, and never settle for the complaints or obstinacy that this part inevitably chimes.
2. I have never read a book that has so many practical exercises. Books that are published as self-help, or that are focused on the development of mental toughness fall short of the range of exercises available in Marcus's journals. Over the course of 19 years, he is incessantly creative in reframing situations and dealing with the contents of reality. His approach is a complete refutation to the trend of searching for '5 steps to change your mind!'. He demonstrates that we will never find one method which will allow us to retain a perpetual drive, an emotional equilibrium or that texturise our decisions with infallibility (just as all things in Nature require a contingency of factors to arise, so too can we not settle on one factor). In the downpouring of time and the dynamism of Nature, we learn to similarly operate with such flexibility and continually develop new ways of perceiving the world.
3. It allows one to internalise a new way of thinking. Because we are seeing, essentially the journals of the man, we are seeing how he thought. Having read the 'Meditations' so many times, in an intentional manner, it has changed my thinking. This includes using more analogies in my arguments to reason myself into an action or a habit. For example, suppose that I don't want to do my work for the day, then, before I read Marcus's text, I would have tried to convince myself in terms of what I can achieve or what I might lose in not doing the task (as covered in Heidi Grant Halvorson's 'Succeed'). These are suitable ways to generate energy for a task, but Marcus, working always from the Stoic assumption that we should live according to our nature (which I discuss in my review of 'Lessons in Stoicism' by John Sellars), forms analogies for why he should do something:
'At break of day, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready to mind: 'I am getting up for a man's work. Do I still then resent it, if if I am going out to do what I was born for, the purpose for which I was brought into the world? Or was I created to wrap myself in blankets and keep warm?' 'But this is more pleasant.' Were you born then for pleasure - for all feeling, not for action? Can you not see plants, birds, ants, spiders, bees all doing their own work, each helping in their own way to order the world? And then you do not want to do the work of a human being - you do not hurry to the demands of your own nature. 'But one needs rest too.' One does indeed: I agree. But nature has set limits to this too, just as it has to eating and drinking, and yet you go beyond these limits, beyond what you need. Not in your actions, though, not any longer: here you stay below your capability.
The point is that you do not love yourself - otherwise you would both your own nature and her purpose for you.' (Book 5)
As an additional recent example, I am currently learning the piano. Supported by Marcus and the teachings from Stoicism, if I try to skirt an hour of playing, I will ask myself: what does Nature demand? By analogy, if a man in 1930s Kyoto wanted to play the piano, and he gave excuses for abandoning practice on a Tuesday afternoon, would they hold under scrutiny? Does Nature or the piano care about those excuses? Marcus's thinking is always to reject the 'certainty', or airtight quality of feelings and excuses, and to reason himself from the seduction of their bind. Here are a few example of other ways he would use reason or visualisations to unbind himself:
'Constantly reflect that all the things which happen now have happened before: reflect too that they will happen again in the future. Have in your mind's eye whole dramas with similar settings, all that you know of from your own experience or earlier history - for example, the court of Hadrian, the whole court of Antoninus, the whole court of Philip, Alexander, Croesus. All the same as now: just a different cast.
Picture everyone voicing pain or discontent at anything, as like a pig at a sacrifice, kicking and squealing. Just the same is the man who keeps it to himself, silently resentful on his bed. Think of all the threads that bind us, and how only rational creatures, are given the choice of submitting willingly to events: pure submission is forced on all.' (Book 10)
4. We learn how to develop a cosmic perspective. This is partly why I would always recommend Marcus foremost over the other two main Stoics. Marcus, more than Seneca and Epictetus, uses exercises from Stoic physics. These exercises are incredibly liberating, and unusual as a matter of experience. For those interested in a guided version of these exercises, author Donald Robertson has kindly made one available on SoundCloud called 'View from Above'. Returning to Marcus, here are some of the other cosmic exercises he might use (One can imagine him employing these during the perfunctory tasks of the day, physically in the room with his advisors but in his mind he is drifting in concert with the stars):
'Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let you mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.
Further, when your talk is about mankind, view earthly things as if looking down on them from some point high above - flocks, armies, farms, weddings, divorces, births, deaths, the hubbub of the law-courts, desert places, various foreign nations, funerals, markets; all the medley of the world and the ordered conjunction of opposites.' (Book 7)
'Further, the rational soul traverses the whole universe and its surrounding void, explores the shape of it, stretches into the infinity of time, encompasses and comprehends the periodic regeneration of the Whole. It reflects that our successors will see nothing new, just as our predecessors saw nothing more than we do: such is the sameness of things, a man of forty with any understanding whatsoever has in a sense seen all the past and all the future.' (Book 10)
'Keep constantly in your mind an impression of the whole of time and the whole of existence - and the thought that each individual thing is, on the scale of existence, a mere fig-seed; on the scale of time, one turn of a drill.' (Book 10)
5. Under the Stoic assumption of living according to nature, Marcus will always aim to do what is for the best for the Whole (which excises any misperceptions that Stoicism is an emotionally barren philosophy). Reminiscent of Shantideva's 'The Way of the Bodhissatva', and the guiding aim of Mahayana Buddhists, Marcus is concerned with helping others. (This also reminds me of a quote from 'Team of Rivals' by Doris Kearns Goodwin, in which she quoted another man with a heft of responsibility, Abe Lincoln: 'Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.')
Being part of Nature and being a social animal, Marcus is similarly aware of the the function that Nature has asked him to fulfill:
'Have I done something for the common good? Then I too have benefited. Have this thought always ready to hand: and no stopping.' (Book 10)
'It follows that the aim we should set ourselves is a social aim, the benefit of our fellow citizens. A man directing all his own impulses to this end will be consistent in all his actions, and therefore the same man throughout.' (Book 10)
6. Finally, Marcus has an intimate relationship with Nature. As can be deduced from the points above, just as a committed Muslim will have Allah daily in their thoughts, or as a devoted Christian will have God in theirs, so too does Marcus enter into communion with Nature repeatedly. This is partly why his writings are so loaded with analogies, and why his exercises are centred on almost taking the POV of aspects of Nature (Nature can be seen as a partnership of space and time, and many of his exercises take on a POV through the corridor of time, or a transportation of consciousness in space). This is a much fuller way to live. Rather than concentrate on only the aspect of being born of parents and of country, and 'forgetting' the physical laws and phenomena which Nature has prepared for that basket of birth, we can instead hold this dual view of Marcus. We can be grateful to our parents, but also bear in mind our historical context and the breadth of reality - this is similar to the primacy that Martin Heidegger gives the world for Dasein in 'Being and Time', or in the way that French philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, describes human beings inhabiting as a 'fold' in the world. Then, in making decisions, or emotionally relating in the world, we can reach for analogies to other parts of Nature: making comparisons and contrasts to the diversity of flora and fauna that are born out of that same source, to those who have preceded our own invocation into Nature and to those living a parallel existence.
For anyone who yearns to reach their potential, you must read this book. Trying to close the self-actualising gap can sometimes be a lonely journey, especially if we don't have close contact with others who are similarly driven. But in owning a copy of the 'Meditations', we inaugurate a union with a person who harboured those same aspirations, while holding a position of immense responsibility. In addition, this relationship can mature past a historical companionship, as one's thoughts and interactions with life are reanimated by the perspective of a Stoic. I give this the highest recommendation.