Alexandra Petri's Reviews > Meditations
Meditations
by
by
![38014446](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442505418p2/38014446.jpg)
This basically consists of Marcus Aurelius repeating, "Get it together, Marcus" to himself over and over again over the course of 12 chapters.
SPOILER ALERT:
-The time during which you are alive is very very brief compared to the time during which you did not exist and will not exist.
-People who wrong you only do so from ignorance, and if you can correct them without being a jerk about it, you should do so.
-You are a little soul dragging around a corpse.
-Whether or not things injure you lies in your opinion about them, and you can control that opinion.
That's about it.
The fascinating thing about these philosophical ideas is that if they were expressed a single time, they might seem profound and solid and convincing. But repeated over and over like a rosary, you feel that Marcus is struggling against really serious grueling daily doubt -- that these are things that he wishes to be true, not things that he knows to be true, normative rather than descriptive statements. Which makes for a fascinating and subtext-y read, especially given his history.
SPOILER ALERT:
-The time during which you are alive is very very brief compared to the time during which you did not exist and will not exist.
-People who wrong you only do so from ignorance, and if you can correct them without being a jerk about it, you should do so.
-You are a little soul dragging around a corpse.
-Whether or not things injure you lies in your opinion about them, and you can control that opinion.
That's about it.
The fascinating thing about these philosophical ideas is that if they were expressed a single time, they might seem profound and solid and convincing. But repeated over and over like a rosary, you feel that Marcus is struggling against really serious grueling daily doubt -- that these are things that he wishes to be true, not things that he knows to be true, normative rather than descriptive statements. Which makes for a fascinating and subtext-y read, especially given his history.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Meditations.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 28, 2014
–
Finished Reading
December 29, 2014
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-47 of 47 (47 new)
date
newest »
![Down arrow](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/down_arrow-1e1fa5642066c151f5e0136233fce98a.gif)
message 1:
by
Céline
(new)
-
rated it 3 stars
Aug 18, 2016 01:18PM
![Céline](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1368231115p1/14087043.jpg)
reply
|
flag
![Anna N](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1470631374p1/17801046.jpg)
![Tom Kiefer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1319782034p1/6805715.jpg)
"It was [at the Danube during renewed hostilities with German tribes], in the intervals of battle, that Marcus wrote down his Meditations, which he originally titled 'To Himself, apparently intending them merely as a series of private reflections. He died at the military camp on March 17, 189, at the age of fifty-nine."
IMO, this bit of insight (private notes in a wartime setting near the end of his life) goes a long way in shedding light on the arguably rambling and *very* repetitive structure of what otherwise might seem a collection of profound and insightful reflections.
![Daniel](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1560435311p1/7058520.jpg)
![Karen Plumley](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1365638708p1/19303065.jpg)
![Humberto Alves](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1592071617p1/4370674.jpg)
![Mert Mumtaz](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![KD](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1609317742p1/60316132.jpg)
I would definitely advice her and everyone who supported her opinion to reread the book.
![Ian](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
![Tg](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Sara](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1636985222p1/8493160.jpg)
![Tg](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Maciej](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Elin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1370205771p1/14087370.jpg)
![Thomas Thorstensson](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
I read all of Wittgenstein, Heideger, Quine, etc, who cares. Then I found the stoics, as a natural evolution of Aristoteles, Plato and Herakleitos.
I have a Master's in Philosophy from 1998 and found that Philosophy mainly consists of academics who need to get their hed out of their a--
Beer is much better.
There is no such thing as knowing a thing to be true; doubt is the natural state. Or else walk across thin air when you believe it to hold you up. - That is me.
Marcus is Struggling, exactly, with what we all are. There's no certainty beyond that. Most academic and professional philosophers are a sad Tale.
Comma sign people living in ideal words and chasing grants. Life can be extended, this and that.
Sokrates was not. Neither Aristoteles. Neither Epictetus. But why? Because of a life lived.
![Justin](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Matthew James](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1704845506p1/10921021.jpg)
![Jarrod Chestney-law](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Nimesh](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1668333459p1/102255087.jpg)
![Michael Jean](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Saurabh Chhabra](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1436070217p1/44521086.jpg)
![Saurabh Chhabra](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1436070217p1/44521086.jpg)
![Ksenia](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1417382174p1/37471176.jpg)
![Tg](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
"If you are disturbed by anything not within your power, then your disturbance is due to your estimate of the event " Marcus Aurelius
This passage is almost word for word from the Great Stoic Teacher and Philosopher Epictetus, given to Marcus by his boyhood tutor
![Alex](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1556227494p1/22874722.jpg)
![Benjamin Roe](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Saf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1679423500p1/65150024.jpg)
![Madeleine](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1722804669p1/160974680.jpg)
To the original commenter, I think your insinuation that "repeat(ing philosophical ideas) over and over like a rosary" somehow diminishes its worth rather than amplifies it...well, that says everything we need to know about you. This is definitely someone who has no appreciation for the value of rituals like the rosary, the necessity of practice, the intentional cultivation of character. I am deeply grateful, however, that you seem to have lived a relatively safe life unburdened by some of fate's worst cards, because anyone who has been humbled by suffering and has genuinely reflected on it appreciates this masterpiece for what it is. I recommend turning to St. Augustine's description of Aurelius' life for historical context if you need a different way to look at things.
I find your comparison to the rosary especially illuminating, as it seems you have missed the importance of both!
Knowing things to be true and living them in the face of reality are two very different things. That is why repetition--meditation if you will--is a tool. Your "spoiler alert" summary does not even scratch the surface of what this book has to offer. You can revisit it a hundred times and find that different parts speak to you in ways you had never imagined. Sometimes these things, stated differently, hit the soul--surprise!--differently.
I recommend revisiting this one in the future. It may be worth it. Or, if you struggle with the format/writing style there are many wonderful guides that will help you appreciate its value.
I love "the Practicing Stoic" by Ward Farnsworth and would highly recommend it if you don't like the journal-style/primary source route.
![Ermicioi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1719058190p1/142506377.jpg)
![Kevin Alexander VanDriel](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1546287645p1/50860439.jpg)
![Tg](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Ava Courtney Sylvester](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1686253159p1/56252432.jpg)
![Sean](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Wendy](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1525029177p1/25968417.jpg)
It is judged based on identification, the light at the end of the tunnel, coming full circle, and relevancy to the reader for starters, my question is why are you embarrassed?