Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
Review by Ross Miller
Marcus Aurelius. Meditations (Gregory Hays, Trans.). Modern Library, 2003.
Marcus Aurelius was the child of a wealthy family who found himself in line to become the Roman emperor. In the 170s, the emperor was busy with Germanic tribes, who had begun making their attacks on the Roman Empire. It was during this time that Aurelius wrote the notes that were later collected as Meditations; the musings of a wise, flawed man attempting to summarize lessons he had learned in his life.
In this review, I summarize the major points in Aurelius’ text; second, I dust off and don my teacher hat once more and provide some questions to pose and strategies to engage with students.
Summary
In summarizing Meditations, there are two immediate problems. First, the book is not in any obvious order, nor does it possess a clear structure. Second, the book has a stream-of-consciousness quality akin to a Roman Empire version of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. That said, several points loom large.
Nothing is permanent
As you kiss your son good night, says Epictetus, whisper to yourself, “He may be dead in the morning.” Don’t tempt fate, you say. By talking about a natural event? Is fate tempted when we speak of grain being reaped? (11.34)
To Aurelius, death (and change) comes to us all and renders all that we obsess or concern ourselves with irrelevant. Passages like this, more brutally straightforward than many, are some of the most difficult ideas to consider or accept. For Aurelius, our lives are dominated and filled with the transitory. In accordance with the laws of nature, all things die, and therefore to obsess about it is a waste of time and ultimately, makes us miserable. The acceptance of change and death is part of our responsibility to live in harmony with the natural order of things.
Dealing with others
Choose not to be harmed – and you won’t be harmed. Don’t feel harmed – and you haven’t been. It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you – inside or out. (4.7-8).
From an early age, children have heard the wisdom from parents, teachers or religious figures – you can’t change what others do, focus only on what you do. Marcus Aurelius focuses on how one should incorporate (or not) the thoughts and opinions of others; to succumb to such chatter indicates a weak mind – one not aligned with the logos that should guide all action. Ultimately, what others have to say or do should hold no impact on you whatsoever unless it improves your character.
To control one’s mind
Nothing is more pathetic than people who run around . . . conducting investigations into the souls of the people around them, never realizing that all you have to do is to be attentive to the power inside you. (2:13)
The Dalai Lama speaks often on the necessity of controlling one’s whims and emotions. Only through control of the mind can one be free to do as they were meant to do, as they want to do. The notion of freedom and the seemingly contradictory notion of discipline are key components of Aurelius’ thought. By controlling and focusing our minds, we grow stronger with a greater connection to what we were meant to do and our role in the greater good. We also have the ability to give everything its due – be it great or small. Humans have a near-infinite capacity to make a small problem bigger through our actions or imaginations. Aurelius warns against this as a step towards peace.
Civic duty
When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your defining characteristic . . . is to work with others . . . And it’s the characteristic activity that’s the more natural one – more innate and more satisfying. (8:12)
English writer and poet George Eliot wrote, “The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.” Aurelius describes this notion as a basic function of nature – that each of us has a duty to ourselves and the system in which we live. A failure to serve that nature, that state, is a failure that can negatively impact society and perhaps more importantly, ourselves. Only through harmony with nature and logos can we be who we were meant to be and serve a greater purpose. To use modern parlance, this “purpose-driven life” recognizes why we are here and lives a life dedicated to its fulfillment. People who are lost are, partly, without purpose and without a commitment to fulfill their role.
Classroom application
The book, while not wholly representative of the classical model of Greek Stoicism, has the benefit of touching on familiar or relatable issues with which any student can identify. A study of Meditations in conjunction with other excerpts or books (if one has the time) would make for a lively and worthwhile endeavor. Like Confucianism, the doctrines are not philosophies so much as a way of life, or to paraphrase the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, a guide for the perplexed. Meditations provide both words of wisdom but also a practical way of dealing with the problems faced daily.
Perhaps the best way of tackling this text is through a series of questions for classroom or small group discussions. Delving into Meditations can present interesting and valuable lessons for many students today who exhibit traits such as a lack of intellectual stamina, a state of being easily distracted, a misunderstanding of the value of hard work, and an entitlement attitude that permeates much of their thinking.
According to the book of Ephesians, it is said that we should be subject to one another. How would Marcus Aurelius address this notion?
A couple of years ago, my former school had a spate of bathroom vandalism. Administrators and teachers both encouraged students to let someone know if they were aware of someone damaging the bathrooms. Students and teachers alike complained about bathroom closures but more importantly, clean-up crews and campus security worked overtime to repair and investigate each act. After the crime wave abated, I had a conversation with my students about their obligations to one another. What were their obligations to the school? More students than expected mentioned a lack of connection or responsibility to their classmates in particular and the school in general.
Throughout the book, Aurelius writes about the importance of acting for the overall good as a part of one’s obligations to others and to society. The students of today certainly possess a heightened understanding of and concern for others in a generic sense. How it plays out within the classroom or at “street level” is a theme that could stimulate great conversations.
Specifically, a discussion could include the societal value of charity. Aurelius does not speak to this directly but it could be said that he might describe charity as a good but not one born out of logos. Whether it serves a societal good – from Aurelius’ point of view – would be a fascinating discussion.
Potentially related, in what way is social and/or political activism given license or forbidden within Meditations?
Whether one considers the colonists who struck against the British Empire from the American colonies, the Can Vuong movement against French control over Vietnam in the late 1800s, or the soixante-huitards of Paris in 1968, a debate can be had as to the correctness of uprisings and revolutions. Surely, not all revolutions are created equal in cause or legitimacy but in the face of the Roman emperor’s emphasis on civic duty, it is a question to ask. The most obvious correlating document to use when considering this question is Thoreau’s essay, On Civil Disobedience.
However, there is much to read in Aurelius’ thoughts. He quotes Epicurus who wrote that the misery of the world is augmented by the degree one obsesses over it (7.64). He also questions the very right to challenge the world as it was created naturally (7.38). A conversation could be had to differentiate movements that ultimately help or hurt. This can be controversial and there are considerations to take before such a discussion.
If you want more controversy (and who doesn’t), consider the wave of attacks on historical figures based on 2023 thinking and morals. What are our obligations to our past? For all the good Aurelius can be said to have done (including the insight seen in Meditations), he was also responsible for a particularly brutal persecution of Christians. How do we evaluate historical figures who were, inevitably, not perfect or in some cases, downright diabolical?
What constitutes a virtuous life? A productive life? A life well-lived?
German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was reported as writing, “I’m not sure why we are here but I’m pretty sure it is not to enjoy yourself.” There is a question here of how we spend our lives. In the age of social media and iPhones, the risk of, in the words of Neil Postman, “amusing ourselves to death” is more real and more possible than, arguably, any other time in history.
In my experience, students have bifurcated thinking with regard to technology and its effect on their well-being. In conversation, most students recognize the dangers of technology on how we think or our personal wellness but such recognition does not necessarily impact their actions. Such a question or perhaps even an experiment of sorts to try and eliminate distractions for a period of time could also provide a revealing test.
To further this point is the question about the purpose of life. Wittgenstein’s quote and Aurelius’ similar sentiment (5.1) suggest that we seek what feels good rather than what is hard. For students, they view hard work as a means to a well-financed end. That can be important but it is not why we should do difficult things. When John F. Kennedy said, “We choose to go the moon…not because it is easy, but because it is hard,” the president was speaking about a more intrinsic (and more important) value to hard work. Aurelius wrote that the reward for hard work is more of it and hardening us for the challenge makes us better.
Do you believe in fate? Are we destined toward a particular future? How does free will factor into this discussion?
As mentioned above, the notion of fate or a predetermined plan is not one widely held, so this conversation could engender some interesting give and take. Consider Arthur Schopenhauer’s belief that “a man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.” Philosophers such as Hume, Hegel, and Plato spent considerable time with this tail-chasing exercise. The difficulty of the conversation can also create frustrated students but Aurelius’ demands that we follow our path, as set forth by nature, can produce an illuminating debate and prove the ideas of the ancients are not always so distant.
Consider the phrase, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Work makes us productive, creates pride in a job well done, makes travel or time spent with families possible – do we have to love it as well? Many people speak of the need to find a work-life balance. However, in light of Aurelius’ Meditations, seeking such a balance may reveal a type of decadence the Stoics would find antithetical to a good life.
Ross M. Miller served four and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps, participating in the first Gulf War in 1991, before earning a bachelor’s degree at Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe. After a brief stint in radio, he began his teaching career in Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, he earned a master’s in history from the University of Texas at Arlington, focusing his thesis on the U.S. participation in the Boxer Rebellion. Mr. Miller spent 28 years teaching U.S. history in various public high schools and community colleges in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Throughout his career, he has taught every subject within the social studies discipline, including history, government, geography, and economics. Outside of the classroom, he has led or co-led a dozen student trips overseas as part of cultural exchanges, primarily partnering with schools in Germany and Japan. Mr. Miller has also previously been a part of the Fort Worth Sister Cities International Leadership Academy, a summer program that includes students from most of the city’s partner cities. He has presented at professional conferences on issues facing education and has published on the same. He recently retired and is currently filling his life with family and history.