Meditations: A New Translation (Modern Library)

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Marcus Aurelius must have been a prolific reader. He sure was a prolific note-taker, for these meditations are surely his study-notes(?- after all he was a 'philosopher' from age 12). I don't know of the publishing system at the time but where are the detailed footnotes and references? Marcus Aurelius is quite a wise man or at least he read enough wise men. He sure nailed it as far as boring a reader is concerned. No better way to establish your book's wisdom quotient.

When you consider the tone of the thoughts collected in “Meditations”, it can be surprising to remember that they were written down by the most powerful man of the Western world. Would powerful men today write so earnestly about dignity, thoughtfulness, modesty and honesty? Would they encourage people to truly look at themselves and give up caring about the things that are outside of our control? I don’t know. But Marcus was very aware of his humanity, and therefore, that even if he was the Emperor, he was fundamentally not all that different from other people.

CUSTOM BOX

If you read this book patiently, giving it enough time for the lightly mentioned yet very deeply meant to absorb thoroughly, you will find this to be one of the most enlightening experiences one will ever have. How Marcus Aurelius had thought of all this such a long time ago is unbelievable. I promise you, you will find wanting to highlight so many of it, if not everything. When I was a freshman in college, I lived in a dorm. My roommate was on the football team. He would write inspiring things on poster board and hang them in our room often on the ceiling above his bed to motivate himself. He favored straightforward sentiments like "never give up."

a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?" Note 6.4 – ‘Turned into vapour’ reflects the Stoic conflagration of the universe (see notes 2.14.2 and 5.13). ‘Scattered into atoms’ is the Epicurean view But with this short work Marcus, who is Italian, and his co-author Gregory Hays have brought the format right up to date by reflecting squarely on the types of issues that we all face today. It's, of course, completely ridiculous to rate a nearly 2000 year old journal by a Roman emperor who never intended it to be read. As a book experience, the repetition of Aurelius's thoughts can be frustrating (the excellent introduction in this volume provides context for it, and for the concept of stoicism), but I found his challenges, his every-day worries remarkably human. When they're good, they're incredible: It seems very relevant today when most of us are connected with so many different people via social media. Becoming dependent on the number of likes on our posts is relatively easy, is it not? However, we had better avoid this and should never measure our success only by such external factors.

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This book contains the rumination’s of an emperor, a philosopher, and, most pertinent to our collective struggles, a fellow mortal, aware of their paltry chronological endowment. Trying to live well and love fully. Seeking to define goodness and hone the pursuit of it as earnestly as possible. Espousing the virtues of self reliance, of facing hardship with equanimity, of treating others with respect and compassion. Stressing the importance of habituating your thoughts in ways that are productive, rather than adopting fatalistic narratives. It’s a panacea against carping and catastrophizing. A set of conceptual triangulations to steady you in times when you feel unmoored. Succor in menacing shadow of life’s impermanence. După cum ne formăm reprezentări despre felurile de mîncare, gîndind că acesta este cadavrul unui peşte, acesta – al unei păsări sau al unui porc, şi, de asemenea, că vinul de Falern este sucul stors din struguri şi că toga pretextă e lînă de oaie impregnată cu sînge de scoică…, tot aşa trebuie să procedăm toată viaţa şi, cînd ne reprezentăm lucrurile ca prea demne de încredere, trebuie să le dezgolim, să le surprindem mica lor valoare şi să înlăturăm pretinsa credibilitate datorită căreia erau considerate de valoare. Periculoasă amăgire este trufia şi, cînd socoteşti mai degrabă că te ocupi de lucruri importante, atunci mai ales eşti victima iluziei” (VI: 13). The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius did not hang motivational posters for inspiration. Instead, he kept a journal in which he collected his thoughts about how to live well. MEDITATIONS is that book. I love this quote and I love the wisdom that runs through this book. It’s such a simple idea and it is also a very true one. Make the most of everything and everyone, of every situation and chance that life throws your way because when they have passed, we may not get them again.

not to live as if you had endless years in front of you. Death overshadows you. While you're alive and able, be good…” I don’t normally read self help books. Often they seem full of cliches left over from the Victorian era. And in this book, which may have been modeled on the writings of Alain De Botton, Marcus mixes in a lot of philosophy and this just isn’t to everyone’s taste. Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse." Stranger: “Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this ‘reality’ as you view your dreams.”

MARCUS AURELIUS BIOGRAPHY

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do. Or is this what I was created for? T huddle under the blankets and stay warm?' they are drawn toward what they think is good for them, but if it is not good for them then prove it to them instead of losing your temper…”

I believe that formally Marcus was a a stoic, if his reflections in his book represent cutting edge stoic philosophy or the ponderings of a well educated individual of his day I don't know. In book eleven particularly he quotes Homer, Sophocles, Euripides and Plato, but he never mentions the famous Roman stoic Seneca. Perhaps Seneca was already forgotten by Aurelius' time or perhaps the issue of how to behave under the rule of an emperor was a bit too close to the bone for the Emperor. The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite." All the great people of the past (caesars, writers, sculptors) perished, as did ordinary people. The end is the same for everyone. Therefore, in a wider sense, it does not matter whether or not you have lived a long and prosperous life. I think the author expands on this topic because he wants to provide himself or his invisible reader with some sort of consolation. Life is not always fair. Sh*t happens even to virtuous people. We must accept things that we are not able to change and improve those that can be rectified. Whatever happens, we can choose how to respond to it. These reflections represent one of the tenets of Stoicism.

GENUINE LEATHER

Observațiile împăratului, scrise în limba greacă (și nu în latină), între anii 170 și 180, au fost tipărite abia în 1558, după un manuscris azi pierdut. Never before have I given a five star rating to a book of which I had only read 9%. However, this book is special in many ways, and if the beginning is any indication of the author's thoughts and reflections, it merits this rating. I eagerly await my future readings of this splendid work. Scria noaptea, în puținul timp rămas liber, pe cîmpul de luptă, în cortul de ostaș, luminat precar, în lungile și obositoarele campanii purtate la granițele imperiului, prin „țara cvazilor, pe malul rîului Granua” (adică în Panonia de azi), cum precizează într-un rînd (I: 17), prin ținuturile triburilor germane, în Galia ori în Asia Mică. Nu a avut deloc vanitate de autor. Vreme de mai bine de un mileniu, lucrarea lui a fost foarte puțin cunoscută. O menționează doar Arethas din Caesarea în secolul X.