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A review by guts_
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
5.0
Meditations consists of practical advice for navigating interpersonal relationships in everyday life, overcoming our fear of death, and many, many more nuggets of wisdom that are still relevant to this day. One reoccurring theme that particularly stuck out to me was the idea that the good life consists of acting in accordance with our nature as civic and rational beings. Humans are intrinsically embedded in the world and in a community and what is good for the community is good for the individual because reason reveals to us that we are part of a greater whole not atomic units in a vacuum.
As but a small part of a greater whole what fate has decided for an us should be graciously accepted for it was necessarily woven in the intricate tapestry of the universe since the beginning of time. Our part in the play is small and fleeting and without reason the whole is unknown and seemingly unjust to us: "Think of the totality of all Being, and what a mite of it is yours; think of all Time, and the brief fleeting instant of it that is allotted to yourself; think of Destiny, and how puny a part of it you are.".
I feel as though I got much out of this book but think I will return to this work after reading more stoic philosophy.
As but a small part of a greater whole what fate has decided for an us should be graciously accepted for it was necessarily woven in the intricate tapestry of the universe since the beginning of time. Our part in the play is small and fleeting and without reason the whole is unknown and seemingly unjust to us: "Think of the totality of all Being, and what a mite of it is yours; think of all Time, and the brief fleeting instant of it that is allotted to yourself; think of Destiny, and how puny a part of it you are.".
I feel as though I got much out of this book but think I will return to this work after reading more stoic philosophy.