Marcus Aurelius was born in AD 121. His father died young and Aurelius Antoninus, his uncle, adopted him. He entered the royal lineage through adoption. He was made King in AD 161 after the death of Antoninus. As we know it today, Meditations is a series of reflections he wrote to console himself through troubled times. He titled it “To Himself”, without any intention of publication.
The book’s themes are repetitive at times, but the well-rounded philosophical understanding and articulation are worth the effort. It reveals the mind of a great King who tirelessly advocated for a virtuous living in a stoic tradition.
These are the re-emphasised themes in the book:
Submission to the Natural and Universal Law
Marcus was a firm believer of existing natural law. He understood humanity as a “whole” that was moving towards a common good — because the natural tendency of any creature is self-betterment — and so he applied it to the Universal law. He didn’t find any reason to contend or meddle with that law.
He didn’t even pray for a change in the natural course of action. He thought best to submit himself to every circumstance wholeheartedly. And he failed to understand why people are often surprised by a regular and possible turn of events. He didn’t think anything worth astonishment.
Life as Monotonous, Transient and Futile
He saw life cyclically, where each generation repeats history. Life to him was always renewed and kept afresh by the youth and everybody would pass that phase into being forgotten eventually. He is seen reminiscing the life cycle of renowned Kings, Philosophers and Teachers, where no matter how big they seem at their time, they eventually fade through memory lanes.
Through this observation, the teaching he took for himself was to abstain from all forms of glory or fame and have a foresight for the common good through justice and truth.
Advocate of Justice, Truth and Kindness
He tirelessly advocated for justice to his subjects by being rational in all his decisions. He emphasised the need for truth and sincerity without any malafide intention for fame. He thought it most comfortable to be honest and sincere in the work assigned to him without any complaints. He valued truthfulness in others too and reminded himself:
“There is nothing more degrading than the friendship of Wolves: avoid that above all. The good, honest, kindly man has it in his eyes, and you cannot mistake it.”
Similarly, he considered kindness a strength and anger a weakness. Though he was not always successful, he advocated for it thoroughly. He thought wrongdoing to be involuntary and a result of ignorance. And because he thought people are born for each other, he appreciated educating each other rather than passing judgements.
Superficiality is Limiting
He was a keen observer of all phenomena and insisted on looking at the core of everything by breaking it all down to components. He felt conclusions drawn from superficial understanding to be incomplete.
For instance, he would typically see a beautiful painting as just a canvas and dash of oil paints and nothing more. Nothing could make him marvel. And he believed that by breaking down everything into its basic components, we could see things more clearly.
The Power and Control of the Directing Mind
He almost always gave importance to a rational directing mind. He even separated the body and mind to understand its power. He argued that physical pain is only as grave as the person’s directing mind defines it to be. He dismissed his body and felt it would take care of its own to heal itself from ailments.
It is always important to control and empower the mind. According to him, the quality of life you lead is the quality of thoughts you possess. He observed how people often need to retrieve themselves to a calm physical space to calm themselves. In turn, he felt that one can always retrieve into their minds and find the calm they are looking for.
Almost the whole of the Philosophy of the Meditations is summarised in Chapter 26 of Book 12 as follows:
“When you fret at any circumstance, you have forgotten a number of things. You have forgotten that all comes about in accordance with the nature of the Whole; that any wrong done lies with the other; further, that everything which happens was always so in the past, will be the same again in the future, and is happening now across the world; that a human being has close kindship with the whole human race — not a bond of blood or seed, but a community of mind.
“And you have forgotten this too, that everyman’s mind is god and has flowed from that source; that nothing is our own property, but even our child, our body, our very soul have come from that source; that all is as thinking makes it so; that each of us lives only the present moment, and the present moment is all we lose.”
Marcus died on 17 March, AD 180, perhaps of an infectious disease, but his death’s exact cause is unknown.