The wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, is portrayed with great wits in his Meditations, a personal treatise that was not meant for public reading. His opinion and philosophy towards living I find profound and helpful in the understanding of human life, though at times not well articulated in detail as I would want it to be and often repetitive. This is understood as the work was not meant for publishing for the general public, therefore, not fined tuned for consumption. As it naturally happens with thoughts one has pondered on in their natural form, it is normal to have such a raw text. Nonetheless, it is the overall themes that matter and not so much the language it is written in, as Meditations is in Shakespearean English.
Main Ideas Of Marcus Aurelius’ Book, Meditations
Meditations is a compilation of twelve books that showcase the author’s finest philosophy towards life. Some of the core fundamental ideas Marcus Aurelius has highlighted in this book include the shortness of human life, a philosophy towards a better life, the need to live an upright and moral life, the absurdity of fame, riches and prestige, sickness and death, time and power among other sagacious themes. He talks about the great men who once lived on the face of the earth like Socrates, Lucilla, Verus, Antoninus, Pythagoras and others who he knew of but are now dead and long forgotten by the masses. He advises and shows us the vanity of everything in life, so it’s important to be humble and do good to others as in the end, we will all die.
A clear statement that can best capture the above-highlighted themes is this. He cites, ‘Constantly bring to thy recollection those who have complained greatly about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the greatest fame or misfortunes or enmities or fortunes of any kind: then think where are they all now.” Everything about life is for the moment. Nothing lasts forever. At the end of it, we all must die. This is one of the hardest things we grapple with as human beings. We fear to think about our demise. But we must know that a time is coming when will be nothing but dust. Our souls will depart from the body and we will cease to exist. This is a reality we can’t escape from. Therefore, we must accept it and live our lives accordingly, practising goodness and kindness to humanity.
We dread change. We become anxious about the future as we fear the life we currently live will change. We become beside ourselves with worry when our dreams and wishes don’t come to pass; when our wealth and health deteriorate, when our loved ones leave us for another, and when our career paths become murky. We want everything to remain constant. Marcus Aurelius reminds us that this is not possible, he notes, “Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance, and be ready to let it go.” He further tells us, “Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest expect to befall thee.” We need to accept things as they are and live in the present. We need to be vigilant with 
the now and be fully immersed in it without our minds having scattered thoughts.
The author has given us advice on how to live a good life, he advises us, “Thou canst pass thy life in an equable flow of happiness if thou canst go by the right way, and think and act in the right way. These two things are common both to the soul of God and the soul of man…” For us to be happy, we need to do good to others and not harbour feelings of ennui, jealousy, wrath, and hatred towards other people. We need to uphold integrity in all our affairs and be transparent. We should not wish ill on others or plan for their downfall. This is a recipe for evil and disaster not only in other people’s lives but also in our lives as we become chaotic, disillusioned and above all nihilistic as we try to battle the evil and negative thoughts that we harbour. In the end, we self-sabotage and self-destruct into depression and eventually commit suicide.
What does it benefit us to wish ill on others? What do we gain when we use all our resources to hurt and injure other people? Is this not the ingredients of frustration, pain and despair in our hearts? Is this not discontentment, wrath and sloth that we will fill in our souls? Is this not absolute chaos and suffering we will create in our conscious minds? Let us strive to be good people who commit noble deeds to others. This is the surest way of living both a happy and meaningful life.