Some Quotes from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

2023-11-08

Sigma male memes aside, this book is quite profound in leading a fulfilled life and understanding our place in the Universe - something I struggle with on a daily basis. Also, it is simply incredible on the sheer amount of insights Marcus Aurelius held, let alone so long ago. Understandably, high-class individuals like him had nothing but time to contemplate our existence, but that has truly been lost in our modern age of distraction.

Book III

"Do not waste the remaining part of your life in thoughts about other people. When you are not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common good. Why deprive yourself of the time for some other task? I mean, thinking about what so-and-so is doing, and why, what he is saying or contemplating or plotting, and all that line of thought, makes you stray from the close watch on your own directing mind."

The relevancy of this statement to my own life is astonishing. Living a life post-social media, I am coming from being trained to be engulfed in everyones' lives that have even the most remote relationship to my own (following everyone from my high school, other high schools, and area in general). This was 1. extremely unsustainable and unscalable of an activity (mine, and many others, greatly exceed Dunbar's number on the number of individuals they follow online), and 2. a huge waste of time and effort. I wasted so much time on social media and seeing and contemplating what others are doing in their lives that I just wasted time to live MY life for my own pursuits.

"Your duty is to stand straight — not held straight."

This quote was very profound to me and elegantly describes the distinction between motivation, being "held straight", and discipline, "standing straight". The former is temporary and an incorrect goal of life, while the latter is what should be strived for everyday, despite being the harder of the two.

"Because it is not right that the rational and social good should be rivaled by anything of a different order, for example the praise of the many, or power, or wealth, or the enjoyment of pleasure. All these things may seem to suit for a little while, but they can suddenly take control and carry you away."

This quote is extremely relevant in the modern age virtually infinite amount of entertainment and pleasure due the web. As a teenager, I was certainly carried away in video games, Netflix, and social media. I was very unhappy during this period as well, which is to no surprise. This is certainly a main source of conflict for my generation of lost and depressed souls.

Book IV

"Think always of the universe as one living creature, compromising one substance and one soul: how all is absorbed into this one consciousness; how a single impulse governs all its actions; how all things collaborate in all that happens; the very web and mesh of it all."

As of late, I have been infatuated with economics (thanks to Marc Andreeson podcasts on Lex Fridman and a16z) as a viewpoint to understand how the world functions. However, as Marcus Aurelius reminds us: there is much bigger forces at play than simply economics. Bogged down by the burdens of modern life it's too easy to forget the bigger picture.

"So one should pass through this tiny fragment of time in tune with nature, and leave it gladly, as an olive might fall when ripe, blessing the earth which bore it and grateful to the tree which gave it growth."

I always struggled to put my own life in perspective and be grateful for the opportunity of just having it. This analogy helped me place myself in respect to the past, what preceded me, and the future, what will outlive me.