Up@dawn 2.0 (blogger)

Delight Springs

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Marcus Aurelius-Jacob Stahl Section 7 (Final Project)

 

Marcus Aurelius-The Stoic Emperor


     

      Marcus Aurelius one of the great stoics and one of the most respected Roman Emperors. He was born on April 26, 121ce in Rome now Italy. In his earlier life, he was taught many things such as poetry, music, and literature. But stoicism captured his mind. His adoptive grandfather Hadrian before he died put Marcus in the succession line to be emperor. His famous work meditations was like a diary displaying his thoughts as emperor. It is unknown if it was meant to be seen by any other eyes besides his own. Meditations is divided into 12 books or chapters with each chapter you explore what is going on in the mind of one of the most powerful men at that time.              Marcus Aurelius Life

    Marcus Aurelius' stoicism was not different from any other stoics of that time. But what he did do was truly show how much journaling is part of stoicism. Stoicism is about enduring yourself and your surroundings. Ignoring your destructive emotions and fear and that's exactly what Marcus Aurelius did. Through Meditations, you can see him deal with fears of death and pain and pushes them to the side in order to make fair judgments. 

  I will touch on some of the books in meditation now that I believe relate to all of us currently to show how stoicism can be used today. In book 2 we see him battle with disagreement on ideas with others. He responds with he must-see "the good that is beautiful" and the "bad that is ugly". You can see that he is taking account of what is good and bad in order to stay in the middle this is a crowning virtue of stoicism and so important today. Today we take for granted what we have and lose control of wanting everything our way sometimes we must accept what is done and understand others have different views than us. In Book 5 he touches on the nature of things reassuring himself all things are for the natural good. That like animals and plants that follow the nature of their own being so do humans. This teaching is completely accurate at this time we should not concern ourselves with whats going on with nature so we should not be worried about covid and stress for its just a part of nature and all things apart of nature are for the natural good. The final teaching I feel is the most valuable today comes from book 7.  It is regardless of esteem, wealth, or accomplishments everyone dies. This means we should go out and do things out of love and forgiveness and not seek reward or praise. Because we all die and the reward and praise will go with it but if we act on kindness and forgiveness the love in those actions will stay even after we die.                                                                                                                              His Beliefs

    Stoicism in its entirety is to endure and show compassion throughout your life. Expect no reward for doing the right thing for that's how you're supposed to live. I believe if we all believed this the state of the world would be much better. There would be no greed there would be no wars because that doesn't accomplish any goals for the world.                                                       

          





2 comments:

  1. And yet, Marcus was Emperor during a time when the Roman empire subjected countless peoples and nations to cruel domination, through greed and warfare. Perhaps that just shows that it's not enough for prominent persons, even emperors, to be enlightened. Entire societies, not just their nominal leaders, must reject greed and warfare if the human condition is truly to evolve.

    Nonetheless, a world of enlightened leaders is surely better than one without. We've had ample demonstration of that, lately.

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    1. I agree, but I believe a world full of enlightened induvials would prove to be a boring one. I believe the world is in a ying yang full off ones who say "life is crazy I must do anything to be on the top" and ones who say "Let it all go nothing matters in this world" its the interplay between these two views I feel that's what makes life worth living for. The unknowing of each others views wether or not we will see another day is what makes me want to get up and enjoy one another. Personal if I meet someone with similar views as me I would see them as boring funny as it is. But on the other hand if we were all enlightened the world would be one of joy and acceptance no need to amass armies or weapons of destruction. Greed will leave us and hate will go in toe. But the topic of what if is funny to ponder I believe we cant fully comprehend something on such a global scale and what true effects it would have. But I'm sure it would be mostly good but with all good what's the point of living.

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