Marcus Aurelius/ Meditations (Vol.II)

It has been five months now since my first post on Marcus' Aurelius Meditations, and now I am bringing forth the second volume of the wonderfully reflective entries of the emperor. The most essential blueprint of his work is his obsessive self-analysis which seems to hold the key to living a fulfilling life. Through his entries the reader becomes aware of the importance of keeping a journal in forming one's personal accord of virtues and insights. Journaling then, bestows one with the accountability and duty needed to make a life of beauty and dignity. Below are some insights written by this fervently inner seeker of truth.

Constantly test your mental impressions- each individually, if you can: investigate the cause, identify the emotion, apply the analysis of logic.

Today I escaped from all bothering circumstances- or rather I threw them out. They were nothing external, but inside me, just my own judgements.

You can strip away many unnecessary troubles which lie wholly in your own judgement. And you will immediately make large and wide room for yourself by grasping the whole universe in your thought, contemplating the eternity of time, and reflecting on the rapid change each thing in every part- how brief the gap from birth to dissolution, how vast the gulf of time before your birth, and an equal infinity after your dissolution. Beneath the world of sights and impressions, there is another one waiting for our visit.

Mind and reason have the power, by their nature and at their will, to move through every obstacle.

The properties of the rational soul. It looks on itself, it shapes itself, it makes itself however it wishes to be, it gathers for itself the fruit it bears.

As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: 'What is his point of reference here?' But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.

Live through life in the best way you can. The power to do so is in a (hu)man's own soul.

The closer to control of emotion the closer to power.

The Pythagoreans say, 'Look at the sky at dawn'- to remind ourselves of the constancy of those heavenly bodies, their perpetual round in their own duty, their order, their purity, and their nakedness. No star wears a veil.

No thief can steal your will.

Value only your directing mind and the divinity within you.

Looking at the sky one becomes connected to the eternal

forces of life and the daily micro problems dissolve.

There are four themes that derive from the above entries. First off, the importance of analyzing one's impulses and impressions. Second, the need of directing one's will. Third, the value of reflecting on the broader scope of life. And lastly, the significance of mastering one's emotions. In the pursuit of living a fulfilling and meaningful life these are the four aspects that aid one's daily effort of living in alignment with one's truest self.

* Photography credited to Stars fell on Livaniana, a tumblr page that captures the beauty of ephemeral daily things.