Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (1558):

That did not have to be a 164 page read. The premise can end at the premise, I do not understand why these philosophy books insist on repeating themselves time and time again. But, I found a fair amount of merit to the ideas behind some of this. Another problem I have is that we’re dealing with someone who clearly deeply believes in the role of Gods, and the concept of Gods as plural entities is incredibly unpopular in the modern context. It is then easy for him to say, because something has happened to you (you got the short end of the stick) that is to support the overall community and it is a choice by the gods to benefit the whole which you should be grateful to do. In the modern era, many people representing the higher classes have the ability to play God, and they are not interested in what benefits the whole of the society, they are interested in what benefits them. How they can continue to benefit from this. This also somewhat feels like propaganda from the higher class to make the lower class feel bad for questioning the positions they have been put into. So how does Marcus Aurelius fit in the modern context? Perhaps he’s embraced by a swarm of modern misogynists so deeply uncomfortable with themselves that they adopt the personalities of men soaked in steroid juices and false testosterone talking about the necessity to not feel. The necessity to distance oneself from oneself, while also hating women. I don’t imagine Marcus Aurelius would be excited with the people who embrace his philosophy today, but one can only ponder. It doesn’t jive with me, but the main argument/takeaway I can agree with is that you should not spend your life worried about comparison. You have to represent yourself as truthfully and transparently as you can because no one can do that for you and I think that’s entirely fair. I also disagree with the thesis somewhat, because I do not think a life devoid of attachments is a better life. The way I see life is as natural as he talks of life, but I see it in peaks and valleys. And the only way to get those peaks and valleys is to truly be in it. I can change the way I see my pain. I can be grateful for it, but I do not wish to push it away. To push it down. We are humans and we are gifted with the privilege to truly feel things. Why would we want to avoid this part of ourselves, even if it means you truly feel pain? To me that isn’t a life at all.

Score: 1/1