Self-Help from a Stoic
or, Who Moved Marcus Aurelius’s Cheese
Marcus Aurelius is the emperor of self-help. Writing in the second century AD, quotes from his work are more likely to appear in the Little Book of Happiness or the Idiot’s Guide to Mindfulness than on the A-Level Philosophy syllabus. In an era where we are all too fluent in the language of the self-help book, in the psychobabble of pseudo-science, the text of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations is a breath of fresh air. Albeit one from from centuries before psychoanalysis and sociology had appeared on the scene.
“Look within: do not allow the special quality or worth of anything pass you by.”
The book itself takes the form of a series of meditations; short statements which are anywhere from a single line to a whole page. These reflections were, quite amazingly, not intended for publishing but a spiritual exercise in self-knowledge by a man coming to terms with the limitations placed on his abilities (even as Emperor of Rome) to change the world.
We sit in a classroom and learn ‘philosophy’ as a subject external to ourselves, Marcus Aurelius became a philosopher through living ‘the Greek way of life’. Taught by Stoics as a child and made to wear a rough tunic and sleep on the floor he formed his view of the world through hardship and contemplation; a canny mixture that crops up many times where ‘stoicism’ is concerned.
His way of writing, whereby he addresses himself, lends some of his meditations a ‘dear Diary’ quality. He chastises himself and berates his own failings regularly. Reading them now, he becomes a belligerent motivator for you to be a better, thoughtful and more purposeful person.
“No, you do not have thousands of years to live. Urgency is on you. While, you live, while you can, become good.”
In this way he is the perfect self-help writer. He did not write with someone else’s well-being in mind but, instead, spent years becoming sure of how best to ensure his own well-being and then committing those thoughts to text for his own meditation. There is no ulterior motive to sell books, to placate the reader and make things easy for them. He never intended to share his short-cuts to a virtuous and happy existence and in that way they are unembellished and brutally honest.
Marcus Aurelius presents a world familiar to anyone who has dealt with office politics, long commutes, ungrateful family members or passive-aggressive neighbours. As a commuter myself I may begin to begin to bring out Meditations at every red light and backed-up roundabout and read a few lines, breathe deeply and become a Stoic.
“Men seek for seclusion in the wilderness, by the seashore, or in the mountains — a dream you have cherished only too fondly yourself. But such fancies are wholly unworthy of a philosopher, since at any moment you choose you can retire within yourself. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than his own soul”
Ah, yes, retreat into my own soul.
