Marcus Aurelius

      Marcus Aurelius

Born: April 26, 121 AD, Rome

Died: March 17, 180 AD, Vienna

                                       

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Was he a gentle soul in a barbaric world?

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
Observations from reading through these quotes

- Marcus Aurelius was very matter of fact,
- individuals are responsible for themselves and their actions,
- It is as it is
- Sooner of later does not matter for it shall be done
- We are bound by the laws of nature
- Use your Brain!
- Get in tune with the rhythm
- Play your part well
- the universe is unfolding as it should
- positive action required
- thinking and doing not feeling is key


Class Questions

Q1

the two philosophies are similar because Nature is the theme
there is no external Divine presence

the two philosophies are different because Lucretius explains the action occurring within nature and Aurelius discusses our action in nature
duty to the moment - to improve the moment

Q2

Aurelius describes a life well led as
"Have I done something for the general interest? Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop doing such good." XI4

Q3

p. 72, 76

Enjoy being spared the misery others are suffering
Enjoy the positive qualities of the people around you
Namaste "The Divine in me salutes the Divine in you"

Q4

Lucretius
Roman philosopher
Epicurean
retreat
pursuit of happiness
meditation
pleasure

Aurelius
Roman emperor
Stoic
meet the challenges
humanistic will power
meditate
purpose






just getting an understanding

philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aurelius.htm
To relieve the Emperor's pains in stomach and chest, his personal doctor Galen prescribed him pills that contained opium. But being a drug addict was not an issue that Marcus Aurelius felt he needed to discuss, he was more concerned of his quick-tempered nature: "Anger," he wrote, "is just as much a weakness as abandoning life struggle." His melancholic thoughts reveal that the public duties depressed him and he wanted to retire to live a simple country life. Marcus Aurelius died in Vindobona (now Vienna, Austria), on March 17, 180. His son Commodus turned out to be one of the worst rulers.

Marcus Aurelius based his views in part on the later version, which was developed by the freed slave Epictetus (55-135). The early Stoics were thoroughgoing pantheists: God is the universe, the universe is God. The wise and virtuous learns one's place in the scheme. According to Stoic Ethics, the goal of human existence is to live consistently with Nature, which means "consistently with Reason".

The Stoics denied the metaphysical reality of concepts. Concepts are merely ideas in the mind, abstracted from particulars, and have no reality outside consciousness.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/stoicism/
The Stoic ethical teaching is based upon two principles already developed in their physics; first, that the universe is governed by absolute law, which admits of no exceptions; and second, that the essential nature of humans is reason.

famous Stoic maxim, “Live according to nature.”

For this maxim has two aspects. It means, in the first place, that men should conform themselves to nature in the wider sense, that is, to the laws of the universe,

and secondly, that they should conform their actions to nature in the narrower sense, to their own essential nature, reason.

For the universe is governed not only by law, but by the law of reason,

 and we, in following our own rational nature, are ipso facto conforming ourselves to the laws of the larger world.

 In a sense, of course, there is no possibility of our disobeying the laws of nature, for we, like all else in the world, act of necessity.

 what is the use of exhorting a person to obey the laws of the universe, when, as part of the great mechanism of the world, we cannot by any possibility do anything else?

 though we will in any case do as the necessity of the world compels us, it is given to us alone, not merely to obey the law, but to assent to our own obedience, to follow the law consciously and deliberately, as only a rational being can.