Marcus Aurelius/ Meditations (Vol.I)

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor well known today for his private reflections known as Meditations. In these personal entries the emperor illuminates a philosophical understanding of life. In a detached manner, this individual becomes his own council and therapist, resting all soul into the paper. Aurelius' personal reflections contemplate a particular way of being. With a strong determination to hold himself accountable for his life, he reminds the reader of the individual effort and will to make a life. What follows are some exquisite excerpts from Meditations.

To what use, then, am I now putting my soul? Ask yourself this question on every occasion. Examine yourself.

Retreat within your own little territory within yourself.

Be your own master.

Always make a definition or sketch of what presents itself into your mind, so you can see it stripped bare to its essentials nature and identify it clearly, in whole and in all its parts, and can tell yourself its proper name and the names of those elements of which it is compounded and into which it will be dissolved.

Keep your own divinity pure and standing strong.

Your duty is to stand straight.

Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts.: souls are dyed by thoughts.

I have now what universal nature wishes me to have now, and I do what my own nature wishes me to do now.

But luck is the good fortune you determine for yourself: and good fortune consists in good inclinations of the soul, good impulses, good actions.

The directing mind is that which wakes itself, adapts itself, makes itself of whatever nature it wishes, and makes all that happen to it appear in the way it wants.

Things of themselves have no inherent power to form our judgements.

Define the present moment of time.

Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment, if you keep digging.

Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.

Well these are some of the most powerful extracts to meditate on, whether in doubt, fear, or slump. Stay tuned for a second post on Meditations.

Bye and stay bright.

*Illustration by Victoria Semykina