Some Imperial Words of Wisdom During Times of Trouble & Peace
By Amy Barr, Wizened Sage of Online Education at The Lukeion Project
Most relatedly to us, perhaps, Marcus Aurelius lived during the Antonine plague (Plague of Galen) which decimated the Roman world in a far more serious way than our current health crisis. At least 5 million perished during Marcus' pandemic, but likely far more as whole towns and cities perished, fell to ruin, and left no historian to count their numbers. Thousands died daily in Rome and the sight of carts piled high with the dead would traumatize Rome's survivors. The Antonine plague caused societal disruptions, not the least of which was Rome’s failure to defend herself from invaders while her economy suffered collapse as most basic services in defenses, transportation, agriculture, and trade came to a halt.
Marcus Aurelius sustained himself by journaling. Thankfully, those notes to himself became a book (The Mediations) about how Stoicism served him well during times of hardship. Stoicism, he argued, would give us the type of mental fortitude needed to help us through the worst of times. So many pearls come from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations that I've narrowed down three main concepts.
Define what you yourself can control, let everything else go.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” –
Marcus Aurelius, like other Stoics, would agree that worry is useless. It is best to focus only on what each of us can personally change (our opinions, goals, desires, actions, reactions). Do not try to control the things we can’t change (the past, the future, other people).
Live well while you yet live.
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...”
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”
Marcus Aurelius would affirm that life is a gift that we must never diminish while we still breathe. We always have the option to exercise control over ourselves and our attitudes during tough moments. If we have a day left or 5 decades yet to live, live with much energy.
Allow nothing to divide yourself from others.
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.”
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
When times get tough, humans adore assigning blame and fault to others. We are all much more alike than we are different. Do everything you can to find unity with others. Reject the compulsion to seek division.
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