Marcus Aurelius was the emperor of Rome from A.D. 161-180. He was regarded as a philosopher king and one of the last good emperors of Rome. He was an avid Stoic and practiced the philosophy regularly.
His private writings and thoughts still survive today and are known as the Meditations. These were never written with the intention of being seen by an audience and they offer a fascinating glimpse into the thoughts and principles of a man who was, at the time, the most powerful person on the planet.
The following are some quotes from Marcus and the Meditations that reflect the wisdom of the philosophy and the man himself.
" When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. "
" You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. "
" The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. "
" The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. "
" Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. "
" It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. "
" I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others. "
" The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing. "
" When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural. "
" Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. "
If you enjoyed these quotes and would like to read more, I highly recommend the version of Meditations translated by Gregory Hays. It's a more modern translation that is very readable but still retains the spirit of the original work. It also has an introduction about the life of Marcus and the Stoic philosophy. Fantastic book, you can get a copy for like $10 last I checked.
There's a reason why they don't teach things like this in public schools. Large amounts of people thinking like this would make their plans much harder to pull off.
That's the most eloquent - and funniest - swearing I've ever seen, bravo!
"Mindless pap" is an old gem that describes so much of modern life lol
He's one of my favorites.
I've always enjoyed reading the stoics, thanks for sharing. lots of good ideas, that I think even some normies could understand.
I do not like the Stoics, they are without God. Btw. Seneca the philosopher was a stoic. He killed himself, asked by Nero the emperor. Seneca means "se necare" to kill himself. What a coincidence?! Astra Zeneca sounds like: astra Seneca: Stars kill yourself, lol.
A lot of Stoic writings were folded into early Christianity. Epictetus was taught in monasteries and Seneca was hailed by some early Christians as one of their own, since his writings aligned so often with Christian teachings. Some scholars theorize that he actually converted to Christianity as his later writings took on more and more of a Christian tone. There's even a theory that he wrote letters to Paul, but this is dismissed by a lot of scholars.
You're correct on the matter of his death. He was ordered by Nero to kill himself after being implicated in the failed assassination of the mad tyrant.
Seneca is a Roman cognomen that comes from the Latin word senectus, which means old. He shared this name with his father, which is why he is sometimes reffered to as Seneca the younger. The name itself has no relation to suicide, but the calm suicide of Seneca is one of the most famous in history.
Cool post!
Although I am a Stoic and also a fan of those including Marcus Aurelius, I have to wonder about the higher volume of world view posts on a Q forum.
I post this stuff because a lot of folks are stressed and confused right now. The writings of the Stoics are weirdly applicable to a lot of what we are experiencing these days. My hope is that a bit of this ancient wisdom can ground people and be a breath of fresh air from all the nonsense of modern media.
I love these posts, so don't hesitate to post a thread like this again.
Glad to see you enjoyed it!
You a former goat? There's another dot win for that. Though it's personal preference that I not have to wade through all this off topic world view stuff on a Q forum (why I didn't down doot ya).
Most excellent world view, but personally I combined it with Christianity.
This is the only .win I frequent after TD got weird. Too much dooming and shilling over there for me. People here are more positive and open to discussion, which I enjoy.
I also blend Stoicism with Christianity. Oddly enough, so did many early Christian writers. Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of it's source. I can attest that a combination of Stoic wisdom and Christian faith have been the most helpful things I have found for living a better life and being a better person.
Naw... theres other dot wins... I don't have a list of them because I don't participate there.
Call me a bastard or a purist... I like GA to stay on Q related topics.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for sharing. You have a nice day too!