This post is the third in an experimental Stoic Philosophy book club series on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Participants expressing interest are tagged at the end of the post, let us know if you're new and would like to join and be tagged!
Prior posts for context:
Thanks to @gd and @siggy47 for their participation in the comments yesterday. I'm experimenting by forwarding sats to "members" chimed in from the previous week.
Book 3: In Carnuntum
Summary and Highlights
For me this chapter, moreso than the priors, is a general collection of Marcus' insights as opposed to depicting a process or related format. Maybe I'm just reading from a different state of mind this week. Admittedly, I've dedicated less time to this chapter and am posting a bit late. So I'll just drop some of quotes that were my favorite and a comment or two here and there.
Entries #1-3 impart a sense of urgency. While Marcus leads off reminding that "we need to hurry", not only because Death approaches, but because the body is decaying and one never knows if they will still possess a healthy mind in order to "practice philosophy". Entry 2 is a beautiful and poetic description of Nature vivid imagery like
The furrowed brow of the lion. Specks of foam on a boar's mouth.
However, I noticed quite a contrast of attitude in entry 3, where illnesses, death, unfortunate fates with imagery of fiery apocalypse, "smeared with cowshit" and vermin. He ends the writing with a great quote depicting his sense of identity versus his material body,
One is mind and spirit, the other earth and garbage.
I understand Marcus point and see the wisdom in Marcus reflections on transience and non-identification with the physical, but the argumentative voice wants to emphasize the contrast between this entry and #2. I think there is something more to the mystery of the mind-body complex and suggest that part of the endeavor is in bringing the gap between spirit and earth, mind and garbage as an em-"bodied" human.
In #4 I liked the quote,
Someone like that -- someone who refuses to put off joining the elect -- is a kind of priest, a servant of the gods, in touch with what is within him and what keeps a person undefiled by pleasures, invulnerable to any pain, untouched by arrogance, unaffected by meanness, an athlete in the greatest of all contests -- the struggle not to be overwhelmed by anything that happens.
It's inspirational. It also speaks to the true nature of a "priest" or spiritual man is the conduct of his character, not the outward show of participating in exoteric religious ceremony or ritual. I also like the description of the athlete, as we know the Greek culture valued physical excellence highly as well.
in #6,
It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness -- as a rational being and a citizen.
A powerful sense of duty, and big implications in such a concise statement. Standing up for what is right is often dangerous in our society. Not to pretend these associations are completely accurate or justified, but I'm thinking of Julian Assange, and also, for some reason, of that American military guy who set himself on fire today to protest the war in Israel / Palestine. I guess I'm struck with how following one's conviction to do the right thing can have extreme consequences, or lead to extreme behavior, and in any event, can require a heroic amount of courage.
A bit later, Marcus adds, "Choose what's best. Best is what benefits me." And the emphasis is his, meaning the real Self, the one that is Good and striving for Goodness, as opposed to the little-s selfish one.
In #7, I was struck with,
Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lost your sense of shame...
In particular, the thought that shame is a quality, has a purpose and is worth keeping around. I've often felt that shame is limiting in life and try to shed it. But I suppose he means it here as an antidote to pride, so everything in balance...
In #11,
always to define whatever it is we perceive -- to trace its outline -- so we can see what it really is by its substance.
Again, this rings of mindfulness. There is a type of meditation practice where you just name whatever it is that comes into your perception. By doing that continually, the mind gets sharper and sharper and there is more of the ability Marcus is praising to "control your thoughts". There is great power in simple observation.
In #14, "be your own savior while you can."
And #15 was pretty enigmatic for me.
They don't relaize how much is included in stealing, sowing, buying, resting seeing to business (not with the eyes, but another kind of sight).
This one sounds pretty mysterious. The emphasis is Marcus' and it feels almost symbolic. What is the other kind of sight? This would be a great discussion question if anybody has insights to share.
Reflections & Discussion
As I mentioned in the introduction, I don't have as much of a cohesive theme that came out for me through Book #3, so there is less of a general reflection. There are plenty of more great quotes, but I just cherry picked the ones that stuck out to me. If you feel to contribute, drop some of your quotes and what you took from them.
Participants
Thank you everyone who has been reading Meditations, this post and expressed interest in participating. I hope most of you are continuing to read and look forward to hearing your insights instead of just my weekly rambling.
Some errata:
- Let me know if you have ideas for how the post format could be improved to stay involved.
- Would more or less time between posts encourage you to participate more?
- Feel free let me know if you don't want to be on the tag list anymore :)
@siggy47 @cryotosensei @carlosfandango @Bitman @gd @sudocarlos @BitByBit21 @bc52210b20 @Atreus @byzantine @davidw @Roll @grayruby
Please tag anyone I missed or signal interest in the comments!