I believe like many fellow students of Ancient History, I came to admire the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161 to 180). It wasn't just that he was identified as one of the five good Roman Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius: the five, who were first identified by Machiavelli, which is quite paradoxical given Machiavelli's reputation) but it was also because Marcus left us his inner thoughts in his Meditations - a series of personal writings, recording his 'private notes' to himself. It seems quite special and marvellous to have the insights of a Roman Emperor from 1,800 years ago, even if in reality his 'thoughts' were not so private as he would have anticipated that the Meditations would be read and judged by posterity.
The Mediations consist of 12 books, written in ancient Greek (the language of ancient philosophy in the Graeco-Roman World) as a personal guide for his own self-improvement but they clearly also have an educational goal. Marcus was a Stoic (named after the covered walkway, 'stoa', where Zeno, the founder of the philosophical school taught his students). Marcus was constantly urging himself to exercise self-control and display compassion. He believed in the ancient view that philosophy was not just a logical exercise to provide understanding but revealed how we should live our lives, enabling us to cope and thrive in a world of uncertainty and tribulation.
A key element of Stoicism was that it taught, in order to live well a person needed to overcome those irrational and negative emotions - like fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, shame, sadness, and so on - that create mental suffering and anxiety. Similar to other philosophical systems and religions, Stoicism argued that for a full and happy life we must move away from seeking happiness in external objects and material desires and shift our focus on to ourselves: the way we behave and what we value. While recognising that a person's basic needs, to support themselves, were important, Stoicism and other ancient philosophical schools shunned any excesses relating to the material world.
Marcus in his Meditations is constantly preparing himself for everyday emotional challenges and errors of judgement through a series of self-reflective mental exercises which alert him to the dangers of external factors which might divert his focus from his inner well-being. In terms of behaviour, he encourages himself to be open, nonjudgemental and compassionate, and avoid aggression, treachery, maliciousness and all other 'evil' thoughts and behaviour.
It strikes me there is a synergy here between Marcus's model of mental exercises and modern psychological therapy, where there is a focus both on understanding and working on elements of our inner worlds and our consequent behaviour. Marcus's mental conversations and rehearsals bear comparisons with forms of meditation, like Mindfulness, which have become recognised tools in healing mental disturbances and disorders.
We all have endured enormous mental stress recently because of the Covid pandemic: levels of anxiety and mental distress have soared and scarred many.
We can perhaps reflect on Marcus Aurelius's constant efforts to control his negative thoughts and emotions and, using his Meditations as an example, look to live a better life through positive thoughts and behaviour that bring us real value?
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