(10 minute read)
You bought a bad cucumber?
Then throw it away.
You come upon a small obstacle in the road?
Then go around it.
This is all the philosophy you will ever need to know.
Loose translation of No. 48 in the Eighth Book, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
This is ALL the philosophy that you will ever need to know! Really? This is enough to get by in life? Get a rotten vegetable or piece of fruit, …meh, just throw it away? Really? On the road and you find an obstacle in the way, …meh, just go around it? Again, really?
This is ALL …you’ll ever need to know?
A more familiar and pithier phrase might be when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or, don’t sweat the small stuff. Imagine those coming out of the mouth of Jesus, Buddha, or Freud?
Marcus Aurelius claims that even if all the books of the world vanished, THIS is the only philosophy you will need. This alone will help you get by in life. Throw away bad food and go around objects that get in the way. If it seems that this piece of advice is too simplistic and trite there is a reason for that.
It seems that way because it is meant to be. It is a feature and not a bug of Aurelius’ writings. And that is his genius and all the other Stoic philosophers. Stoic philosophers have a way of untangling profound things with some very simple suggestions.
An Emperor Is Born
Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was born in Rome in 121 C.E. and served as emperor from 160 C.E. until his death in 180 C.E. I will spare you the details about how he came into power. However, you should read them at some point. This will help you appreciate how Marcus Aurelius became Caesar.
As a ruler, he is considered one of the most respected emperors ever to have reigned in Rome. He achieved this status by ruling as a benefactor to the citizens of the Roman Empire. His reign was not a smooth one, having to fight off political and international enemies while battling plagues and diseases.
Throughout the centuries, he is best known for his personal journal, Mediations. He is recognized more for this than for any other of his political accomplishments and ruling skills. Aurelius had to rule a country. However, his temperament, schooling, and training allowed him to see events in his life very differently. Today, we are the benefit of that.
Stoicism, The Art Of The Real
As written in earlier posts, part of the human condition involves our attempts to understand life. We also strive to comprehend the world in which we live. Along the way we develop a series of beliefs that are meant to bring us some peace of mind, i.e. comfort beliefs.
Why do bad things happen to good people? …is one question we ask to form those beliefs. What happens when we die? …is another. That question we will save for a little later.
Studying Stoic and Greek philosophers associated with the movement were instrumental for Aurelius. He used it to try and make sense of the world. He focused on the things that affected him and the people he loved.
For the answers he gravitated to the Stoics and their philosophy. Stoicism is a philosophy that came out of the Greek and, later, Roman era. There are elements of Stoicism that equals other schools of philosophical thought. However, Stoicism is not a discipline of only pondering and pontificating.
Instead, Stoicism is a “philosophy of action.”
There are a number of academic definitions of Stoic philosophy. Simply defined, it is the philosophical belief that the goal of human life is to reason. All men and women should live within a common moral code. They should practice tranquility and peace of mind. Our actions are driven by “right moral reasons.” However, those “right moral reasons” are simply the default motivations for everything we do, i.e., are we doing what we are doing for the right reasons and does it help others?
Stoicism is seen as a way to guide an individual’s thoughts about the meaning of life. It addresses the struggle we all face to find peace in a hostile world. We begin to put Stoicism into practice by recognizing which circumstances in our lives are in our control. We should also identify which circumstances are not within our control. Remember, Stoicism is a philosophy of action. Once we determine those circumstances within our control we can focus on them while disregarding the others.
For example, many people have experienced the suffering from being laid-off a job due corporate downsizing. Stoicism recognizes this sort of suffering may be something that is not within our control. However, the way in which we deal with it is certainly within our control.
The decision on what action we can take depends on the circumstances. Often, we determine this after a period of adjustment. This helps us make the situation better. The Stoic practices are a deliberate effort to come to those decisions sooner and with greater conviction. Generally we have two choices that define our actions.
We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves and take no action. We can also decide that when these things happen they become a way to make life better. Aurelius’ Meditations were written with this in mind.
While he was in his 50s, Aurelius fought with the Germanic tribes in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. During this time, he journaled the Stoic philosophies. He tried to exemplify these philosophies every day of his life.
There are no original Stoic ideas in Mediations. Because of this scholars agree that the writings were meant to be for his eyes only. They seem to be a hodgepodge of the moral tenets from the Stoic philosophers. They seem to rely on the writings of Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, who lived and died prior to Aurelius’s reign. Written in fragment form, they are notions to remind himself of the Stoic tradition. He uses these while dealing with the insurmountable internal and external forces surrounding him.
Despite this, Meditations continued to be studied over the centuries. Even today it remains relevant and valuable to millions of people. It is the cornerstone for those desirous of mastering the stoic school of thought.
Memento Mori, The Finality Of Death
Whatever I am made up of, flesh, spirit, or reason, …throw away any books, don’t let your mind suffer, be distracted, or tossed to and fro …for whatever it is that taunts you will not be there forever …even now I am ready to die.
Mediations, First Book, 16
You may think stoicism is morbid because of its fixation on death. Let me dissuade you of any such notion. It is no secret that the commonality among all living creatures is the inevitability of death. All living things have a beginning and an end. The Stoics have a practice for facing this certainty of death.
It is called Memento Mori. “The practice of reflecting on your own mortality.”
Memento Mori simply means that one is ever aware of their pending future mortality. This awareness helps them live in a “fully present state.” It is true that this mindset practice is not unique to stoicism. All religions and philosophies deal with the subject matter of death one way or another.
Why? Because it is the most common of human traits, transcending race, color, creed, and gender. Maraṇasati is a Buddhist practice of awareness that death can strike at any time. Some Islamic sects, as a practice, make it a point to visit graveyards in order to face their own mortality. The Jewish rite of Rosh Hashana is a time for celebrating a new year and new changes. It is also a time for wiping the slate clean. The faithful are compelled to contemplate their own mortality with an emphasis on realizing death can happen at any moment.
It seems that the various philosophies contemplating the inevitability of death help people accept their fate. Additionally, they bring about contentment and happiness.
If I told you that I could guarantee success in whatever you do in life, would you be intrigued?
How would an athlete respond if they were told they would win every game they played in? Regardless of the sport, they would be the best player on the team every day of their lives.
If I made the same promise to a writer, a teacher, a politician, or a plumber? That they too believed success was guaranteed, regardless of their actions. Every day. That everyone got the same reward in the end? You probably would ask, “What kind of bullshit is this?”
I know I would.
Religion, theology, and philosophy and the various belief systems worldwide promise different outcomes for their faithful.
It is estimated that since the history of man there have been nearly 4,000 different religions. And those are the ones we know about. One can surmise that there have been some belief systems that have come and gone without a trace. The numbers are impressive, but really, in the end the numbers don’t really matter.
What matters is what each of them attempted to do. They tried to come up with a human explanation for the world they were living in. The origins of their beginnings are as different as their beliefs, with some commonalities. The stark commonality with them all is the struggle to explain the one thing we all experience, death.
All of their explanations are meant for one thing and one thing only. To bring comfort to our living conditions now. How they describe the hereafter matters only in that it determines how they behave now. Belief in a system of rewards and punishments bring followers some comfort that some day things will be better. But that is told to bring comfort now and dictates how we behave now.
For example, if you believe in a system of rewards and punishments, you will treat people accordingly. You will apply the same sense of reward and punishment now. Good people are rewarded now. Bad people are punished now. Good people are those that have the same worldview as we do. Bad people are the ones that don’t. So the indifference we have for the suffering of “others” is palpable. God is in control of doling out the rewards and punishments. If you are suffering then you must have done something to deserve it.
Having a worldview that claims your group is the only one with the “truth” leads to negative outcomes. You will treat others outside your group as bastards. You will consider them less than human.
History has proven this.
On the other hand the stoic believes that if something isn’t going right change it and make it right.
Got a bad cucumber? No big deal just throw it away.
Come to an obstacle in the road? Why would you stubbornly plow through it? Go around it.
You could literally discard all the philosophy and religious tenets ever written. You can live a full and peaceful life just by remembering these two examples.
Something is not right? Change it. Something in the way? Go around it.
This is all you really need to know.
