Review | Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
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. He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the last of the great Roman Emperors reigning over Pax Romana, didn’t write Meditations with any sort of audience in mind. In fact, he would have never fathomed that this short document of not more than 100 pages would find a place in the world’s leading libraries, or that he would transcend time to be known as a quintessential stoic philosopher rather than as the Emperor of Rome. Deeply poetic with autobiographical elements, this short book, divided into 12 chapters, introspects the meaning of life, the folly of human endeavours, and his own vision on what constitutes “eudemonia”-separating “good” from “evil”.
The core philosophy of Marcus is to be indifferent to the daily rumblings of life and see oneself as part of the vast infinite cosmos, deriving strength from the indifference of the universe, while being humble and acting with compassion. Existentialist at points, the book shows Marcus’s convictions on the grand scheme of the universe, which he called “logos”-with a never-ending call for action as a rage against cynical indifference. Deeply reliant on using self-discipline as a way of life, Marcus says one does not have control over outside events-they are external to us and only cast their impressions upon us. It’s up to us to decide what to make of them, and approach the situation accordingly.
One tends to classify Meditations as a sort of self-help book, but forgets that the writings are daily entries deeply personal to Marcus. Originally intended to be buried after his death, the Renaissance gave the text a fresh perspective, prompting renewed scholarly interest. One can take this as an entry point into the vast field of Stoic philosophy, while it fails to give any historical narrative of Rome or Marcus’ political interests.
The pandemic has motivated a peculiar interest in Camus’s The Plague and its embrace of absurdism. Marcus paints the other side of the coin, for he himself has fought the Plague of Rome like the Stoic he was-staying back with his fellow citizens despite all of Rome’s wealthy elites abandoning him, and losing several of his loved ones to the plague. Marcus saw each thing as everlasting and to come around in a cycle. As history would have it, Italy embraced the worst of the virus this year while Marcus’ statue stood tall in the Capitoline Hill-a symbol of the never-ending trail of folly inherent to human nature.
Originally published in Article 19 (http://articlenineteeniitm.wordpress.com) on October 14, 2020.
