Meditations

Meditations: A Classic New Translation

A central theme to Meditations is the importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others and developing a cosmic perspective:

"You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgment, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite".

Accepting life as it is, living a good life and being a good person, living in harmony with others, living in the present moment are some of the subjects of this book. The big ideas that are given in the book are if you are worried about something, it is because you have taken the wrong estimation of something. And you can get out of it by controlling your mind. You cannot change the external factors in the world that destroy your peace of mind but you have the power in your mind to deal with the situation.

You have to get energy from your inner self to fight any situation. When someone criticizes you or says something bad about you instead of feeling bad go to the souls and roots of that person and try to understand what type of people they are and why they said so. You will come to know there is no need to take them seriously and feel bad about yourself because of them. Instead of wasting time on what others said about you try to utilize it to build yourself.

Marcus Aurelius Meditations is written in a very precise and prismatic format which makes it very easy to read and understand. This book has amazing quotes that accelerate us to achieve our goals. It is a bunch of scattered ideas. It is all about understanding, accepting life, accepting responsibilities for your own self, living a disciplined and good life. In the present age, we can use the philosophies of this book and can have good results.

About The Book

Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. With a profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus provides insights, wisdom, and practical guidance on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity to interacting with others. Consequently, the Meditations have become required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.

Nearly two thousand years after it was written, Meditations remains profoundly relevant for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life.

About Marcus Aurelius:

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (often referred to as "the wise") was Emperor of the Roman Empire from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the more important Stoic philosophers. His two decades as emperor were marked by near continual warfare. He was faced with a series of invasions from German tribes, and by conflicts with the Parthian Empire in the east. His reign also had to deal with an internal revolt in the east, led by Avidius Cassius.

Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty and has been praised for its "exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness."