Meditations

Marcus Aurelius must have wondered what he did to deserve all this. First, he lost his father at age three. Then he was pulled from his first love, philosophy, and pushed into politics. When he finally became emperor, roughly 200 years of peace exploded into 19 years of border wars and civil strife.

There was a plague.

There were floods.

He had crippling health problems.

At some point, as he buried another one of his children, as he wept over the ceaseless toll from disease and pestilence, he must have thought: Haven’t I given enough?When will this end? What fresh horrors await?

Yet somehow, someway, he never managed to give himself over to this despair. He kept going. He pushed away resentment and bitterness, fear or helplessness. There are dark moments in his Meditations to be sure, but mostly what you see in those pages are little sentences about how life still has meaning, about how he can still find goodness in the world, how he has to keep doing his duty. A full ten percent of the book is given over to the things he’s grateful for!

So don’t let anyone tell you that Stoicism is a dour and pessimistic philosophy. Don’t let anyone tell you this is a philosophy of resignation. On the contrary, it is a deeply optimistic and resilient belief system. It’s about not giving up, not giving in, not letting fate or misfortune break you, of loving life, despite it all.​

Marcus never quit. He never took any of it personally. He never stopped being good. Neither should you.

Bron: your daily stoic.

Op weg maar weer. Richting Rocamadour!