Introduction to Stoicism: Marcus Aurelius
Introduction to Stoicism: Marcus Aurelius
The one true Philosopher King
The ancient philosophy of Stoicism has produced many great men and in this series, I will discuss the three most famous of these individuals. It would be nothing short of a travesty to begin with anyone else but the man who brought me into the fold and changed my life, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Such was the sheer embodiment of a philosophy inherent within the afore-mentioned son of Rome, that his finest work, which he never wanted to be published, could convert an 18-year-old Irish man to Stoicism overnight. In so doing he changed and continues to change my life.
Marcus Aurelius was the man who most closely embodied the philosopher king of Plato. Yet it is worth noting that despite his position as the most powerful man in existence at the time, his life was not an easy one. Born in the year 121 AD he would be adopted into the purple having displayed the requisite traits to rule the majority of the known world.
I hope to cover Aurelius in greater depth at a further stage, but even with such a short post, I would not be able to do the man justice with a bare paragraph on his achievements and tenure as Emperor. Suffice it to say he faced off against Persian invasions, outbreaks of the plague, civil war, terrible natural disasters, warlike German tribes, and personal illness. He truly was the last of the Five Good Emperors!
Marcus was a scholar first and foremost who by all accounts did not wish to become Emperor. He would have much preferred to spend his time reading and writing, which were the desires closest to his heart and in a twist of fate which I am sure would have warmed his heart, it is these scholarly pursuits primarily the creation of the Meditations that he is now known for. Written during his time as Emperor between 161 and 180 AD in Koine Greek, the language of philosophy, the Meditations consist of twelve books that were written for Marcus’ own guidance. They also unintentionally serve as an extremely early precursor to the self-improvement genre.
Upon his death, Marcus had ordained that the twelve books were to be destroyed in their entirety. Fortunately for the human race as a whole, a member of the household recognizing the importance of such a work decided to preserve it. The text has since survived to the present day despite countless other ancient works being lost to the ravages of time. I will take this text as a starting point for the explanation of the basic principles of Stoicism.
The quote I have chosen and displayed in the first image of this post comes from Book IV of the Meditations. I believe that within these words is the very cornerstone of Stoic philosophy. In the world we live in today, it is so easy to become disheartened, to view the world as cold and dark, and to become anxious and frightened for what the future may hold. So many thoughts cloud our minds each day, whether it is something as small as an impending college deadline or something much greater, each of these worries weighs us down like an anchor.
Social media provides us with immediate access to our favorite content, but it can also leave us feeling hollow as our everyday lives struggle to live up to the fragments of a life our friends post regularly. While it has its merits, these new forms of media also increase our anxiety and number of pressing concerns to a degree that no other generation has had to experience. Toxic posts, messages, and tweets are proliferated daily, and this is added to the everyday stresses each of us must face.
Yet Stoicism offers a simple solution, which I hope you will be able to implement throughout the coming week and if it proves successful to a further extent going forward. We divide what faces us into two categories; what we have control over and what we have no control over. At the end of the day, there is nothing any of us can do to exclude misfortune in our lives, yet we can always control our actions and thoughts. Such control gives the adherent of Stoicism strength and confidence to face what lies ahead.
To give a simple example, my job as a solicitor (lawyer for those of the American inclination) leads to massive to-do lists and corresponding deadlines daily. At times I have procrastinated or worried as to whether I can meet such demands in terms of the looming deadline and likewise, the quality of my work, causing a form of near paralysis in terms of my efforts. The day’s end looms, yet I am no nearer to my goal of clearing my desk before the clock strikes 5.30 pm. As a result of my procrastination and worry, I will in all likelihood have to work late. This will mean that my plans for the evening and potentially the weekend are jeopardized. This means that my worry about things that lay outside of my control has caused me to suffer in a way that could have easily been avoided.
Here is where Marcus’ quote can be applied, I do not have any control over such matters, that deadline will keep coming closer whether I worry about it or not. My quality of work naturally suffers if my worry prevents me from tackling the tasks the day presents methodically and with the clarity of thought required in my profession.
Yet there is an aspect of the situation over which I have control, I can sit down and work on each task taking it step by step, task by task and this is the only issue that should truly concern me. The division of what is within our power to affect and what is not is fundamental to the practice of Stoicism. If we make a conscious effort to consistently put each situation into one of the two categories, you will soon find that your worries will begin to dwindle.
What will come will come and you will face it regardless of the anxiety which places such a large toll upon you at the present moment. Whereas, if you can separate each issue into their appropriate categories you can place your entire focus upon the areas which you can positively impact upon. Minus the worry which once plagued you through the issues you could not control. It is a simple but effective method of facing your anxiety head-on. In continually making that conscious choice you will find yourself becoming more focused and increasingly living in the moment without the crippling anxiety associated with what may or may not happen in the future.
Our perception of the event is as important as the actual event itself. Let us say I finished all of my work and met every deadline, yet the partner provided feedback that was unfavorable and focused on tedious details. I could blame the partner or any number of distractions that plagued me during the work day. Or I could take responsibility for my own actions and look at the current result as a learning process. From this, I can learn about the areas of my approach which require improvement and in doing so become a better legal practitioner and all-round better person if I apply each lesson to different aspects of my life.
Finding the positive in each situation while acknowledging the corresponding negative aspect, is another building block of Stoicism, which directly interlinks with the separation of events I had mentioned earlier. Worrying about the result which is now in the past, will not benefit me in any way or do much to change the reception my work received. Whereas, placing my focus on how I can rectify my mistakes and taking this experience as a learning process will bear fruit in the future.
The concept of perception can be used with nearly every horrible outcome or event you will face in your life. Instead of thinking that this was terrible why did it happen to me, you can instead look upon the situation like this; what happened was not my desired outcome but I have become stronger for it and can apply what I have learned from it going forward in my future decisions and conduct towards others. All this garnered from an ordinary everyday experience and therein lies the beauty and simplicity of Stoicism.
In the end the majority of our worry, stress, anxiety whatever it is that ails you comes from the mind. If you decide that such thoughts can no longer harm you then they cannot possibly do so, as they have no true grounding in reality. They can only affect you if you allow them to negatively impact you. This plays into the misconception that all Stoics are devoid of emotion. When we are merely in control of such emotion and can harness it in such a way that drives us forward, rather than leaving us immobilized by the fear of the past and what is yet to pass. While emotion is the defining factor in what makes us human, it is our control of such emotion that truly gives us strength.
To conclude the first of my introductory posts on Stoicism, I would just ask that you the reader spend some time thinking about what I have spoken about above, as little as five or ten minutes even. Taking this maxim into your new week, look for areas where you can apply the perception principle and the separation of uncontrollable factors from their controllable counterparts. Simply make use of the words of Marcus Aurelius in order to take your first steps towards achieving a Stoic life of virtue, free from the weight of worry.
Very interesting read!