Book notes - Meditations
Ancient wisdom transcending time.
Review
Meditations is a a book of a rare kind. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was a roman emperor and stoic philosopher. He wrote Meditations as a personal journal so it offers a glimpse into his inner thoughts.
His believes were founded in stoicism, the most popular philosophy in ancient greece and the roman empire. Stoic philosophy prescribes four virtues which loosly speaking are: Wisdom, Courage, Justice, Temperance.
The pylosophical views expressed in the book are sound even after milenia, down to earth and full of practical advice. Here are a few of his memorable quotes.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.
Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them, or learn to bear them.
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.
Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.
When you arise in the moring, think of what a precious privelege it is to be alive– to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love
Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power.
So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.