Sharing as I read: My favorite pieces from #Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

In man’s life his time is a mere instant, his existence a flux, his perception fogged, his whole bodily composition rotting, his mind a whirligig, his fortunes unpredictable, his fame unclear.

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To put it shortly: all things of the body stream away like a river, all things of the mind are dreams and delusion; life is warfare, and a visit in a strange land; the only lasting fame is oblivion.
And the one and only thing that can escort us on our way? Philosophy.

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From his great grandfather: not to have attended schools for the public; to have had good teachers at home, and to realise that this is the sort of thing on which one should spend lavishly.

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From his tutor: not to become a Green or Blue supporter at the races, or side with the Lights & Heavies in the amphitheater; to tolerate pain and feel few needs; to work with my own hands and mind my own business; to be deaf to malicious gossip.

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On #writing: to write essays from young age; not to be diverted into a taste for rhetoric, so not writing up my own speculations, delivering my own little moral sermons, or presenting a glorified picture of the ascetic or the philanthropist;

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From Sextus: an unaffected dignity; intuitive concern for his friends; tolerance both of ordinary people and of the emptily opinionated; to praise without fanfare and to wear great learnings lightly.

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From Apollonius: to see clearly in his living example that a man can combine intensity and relaxation; have no other perspective, even for a moment, than that of reason alone; to be always the same man, unchanged in sudden pain, in the loss of a child, in lingering sickness.

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On #Nature: always remember what the nature of the Whole is, what my own nature is, the relation of this nature to that, what kind of part it is of what kind of Whole; & that there is none who can prevent you from being in accordance with that nature, of which you are a part

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To resent anything that happens is to separate oneself in revolt from #nature. Accepting all that happens and is allotted to it as coming from that other source which is its own origin: now if there’s nothing fearful for the elements themselves in their constant changing...

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...of each into another, why should one look anxiously in prospect at the change and dissolution of them all? This is in accordance with nature: and nothing harmful is in accordance with #nature.

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Better is what benefits: if to your benefit as a rational being, adopt it: but if simply to your benefit as an animal, reject it, and stick to your judgement without fanfare.

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Define what presents itself to your mind so you can see it stripped bare to its essential nature & identify it clearly, in whole & in all its parts & can tell yourself its proper name & the names of those elements of which its compounded & into which it will be dissolved.

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Men seek retreats for themselves — in the country, by the sea, in the hills but all this is quite unphilosophic; when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation than that into his own mind.

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The universe is change: life is judgement.

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Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced that your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.

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It is shameful that the face should be so obedient, shaping and ordering its expression as the mind dictates, when the mind cannot impose its own shape and order on itself.

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Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.

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The action is important, the context is indifferent.

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It is ridiculous not to escape from one’s own vices, which is possible, while trying to escape the vices of others, which is impossible.

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He who fears death fears either unconsciousness or another sort of consciousness.

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When Marcus speaks of Dharma :)

I cannot get over the eerie overlap between two disparate philosophies.

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Be like the rocky headland on which the waves constantly break. It stands firm and round it the seething waters are laid to rest.

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All is ephemeral, both memory & the object of memory.

Always remember — very little is needed to make a happy life. It is within you; in your way of thinking.

The End.

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