Meditations Book Report

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was a Roman Emperor from about i'll say 161 to about 180. He is until this today still considered one of the most influential and important Stoic philosophers of history. This book from what I have seen is almost like a personal notebook or one could say a diary; hey were not intended to be for publication and along with that he called them a “Writing To Myself”. He died from what is believed to be cancer or a plague, furthermore going into the overall summary of the book we start from book one, which in this book the sections aren't called chapters. In book 1 Aurelius basically is paying homage to all of those he feels has had an impact on his life, those he feels he is indebted to. One of the primary people being his grandfather for teaching his to be “candid, modest, and even-tempered”. Along with His mother and father for teaching him to be humble, calm, generous, and not someone who is so materialistic, last but not least his wife for being affectionate. Book 2 and 3 basically touch up on morals of our everyday lives and how we should carry ourselves and look at people and the world overall. In book 2 he explains that in life we are going to come across some terrible people, but we have our faults too and that we aren’t perfect ourselves. For those of bad nature that we might meet in life we shouldn’t be angry with them, “for we are all just bits of blood, bones, and breath.” Our lives is fleeting away before our eyes and we don’t have time to sit around and basically let our minds be slaves to things like selfish passions, or even anxious of the present and even afraid of what the future might old for us down the road. Book 3 ushered in some ideas that you can say ties in with some of what book 2 said when it came to not letting our minds be slaves and to pretty much not to have any worries. In this case for book 3 he stresses us to be mindful of the little things, “like cracks in a loaf of bread, The texture of figs and olives, and the expression of wild animals- everyday things have charm.” Along with that we shouldn’t be people of gossip, or try to put two and two together about what others are up to in their everyday lives. The world could be better if we are people of sincerity and cheerfulness, because it is those two things that can bring divinity within us. Book 4 and 5 touches up on the ways to live wholeheartedly not just for your own satisfaction but towards others. He explains how we can always find “solitude” in our minds, and that if we live life with a serene mind we will always find peace and happiness, and not dwell on how others view us. In book 5 h explains that every morning we should get up and do good work, which can include acting naturally and being yourself unconcerned about the reproach of others towards you. Along with that we should always try to contribute society and do good deeds not looking for a handout …show more content…
Therefore we should always live connected to nature and other people we encounter in our everyday lives. The part that I feel anybody that got this far into the book can agree has been pushed a few too many times at this point is the idea that no matter what you go through in our daily lives we should always maintain and control our minds. At this point we get it no need to keep pushing that plan. Book 9,10,11 all together is a broken record when it comes to being compared to the rest of the book, almost to the point where it’s safe to say he is recycling his thought to almost kind of stretch his personal notebook, seems to me he is thinking too hard at this point. He argues that we should be “moderate, sincere, honest, and calm.” In this case he does add something relatively new by saying if someone ever questions you and says you’re not virtuous, we should “dispel such notions with your probity” in other words with to let actions speak louder than