Meditations (Penguin Classics) by
Marcus Aurelius
Incendiary Against The Backdrop Of Our Age Of Faithlessness. Heres To Hubris.
One measure, perhaps, of a books worth, is its intergenerational pliancy:
do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages?
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory
Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its
most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be
close to the authors intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a
haphazard set of notes, is indicative of the role of philosophy among the
ancients in that it is expected to provide a design for living. And it does,
both aphoristically (Think of yourself as dead. You have li ved your life.
Now take whats left and live it properly.) and rhetorically (What is it in
ourselves that we should prize?). Whether these, and other entries
(Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.) sound life-changing or like
entries in a teenagers diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be.
Hayss introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of
Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible
and jaunty. --H. OBillovich
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What makes Meditations an important book is that it provides the
opportunity to discuss what it is to be human, to have a soul, to live a good
life with one of the most remarkable men in history.
Before I get to that I want to second a suggestion made by several
reviewers. Use two or more translations when you read the Meditations. I
like this Penguin Classics edition. The introduction by Diskin Clay is useful,
the translation by Martin Hammond is mostly accurate and his explanatory
notes are very useful. There are some solid suggestions for further reading
and several useful indices (of Names, of Quotations, and a General Index).
My one qualm about the translation is that Hammond sometimes makes
the book sound a little Christian. Hammond will use sin where other
translators (like Farquharson or Frances Hutchinson) would use impiety or
harm. This is decidedly not a Christian text. There is nothing in Marcus
Aurelius (MA) of final judgment. There is no reward or punishment for our
actions in this life. MA suspends judgments on all sorts of issues. It is clear
that he believes in gods and occasionally talks about God (see 12.2). But
he also mentions many times the alternative belief that all is chance and
that death will be followed by oblivion. It is essential to his ethics however
that death is not followed by any sort of hell.
Also worth thinking about is whether MA is a man whose philosophy is to
be rejected (or, at least, radically modified) because it ultimately makes
one less human. With MA, everything is to be thought through with the
corrosive that is reason. We must not let our attachments cause us to lose
sight of the truth.
We may kiss our children good night but we must remind ourselves as we
are doing so that they could be dead tomorrow (11.34 in Meditations- this
bit of choice advice came from Epictetus)!
One point about this is that there is a real conflict in MA with his idea that
we should accept everything that the gods see fit to visit upon us (an idea
expressed too many times to quote a single source) and his desire to not
be effected by any of it. I would argue that true acceptance does not seek
invulnerability. True confront embraces vulnerability and fully accepts the
whole of our humanity. We have a choice about how we respond to our
suffering. MA, at his best, is saying that and pointing out that we can not let
our suffering control our actions. At his worst, he sometimes seems to be
saying that we can chose not to feel our suffering. He is such a compelling
writer that I think it is all too easy to read MA in a one that avoids how
radical are some of his ideas.
The desire of MA for some sort of emotional invulnerability is part and
parcel of his rejection of quotidian experience. He does not seem to have
liked or admired many of his contemporaries and he does not seem fond of
the simple pleasures of life. His descriptions of sexuality are always
mingled with tones of disgust.
Where the Meditations may be most useful is when we are dealing with
some sort of very extreme situation. There are two Naval Academy essays
by John Stockdale about how he survived his imprisonment during the
Vietnam War using the philosophy of Epictetus that delve into the full
complexity of that philosophy. (These essays are referenced in the intro to
the Penguin edition
of Epictetus writings. You can use the Amazon preview of that book to see
the reference.)
Does all this mean that I think you should not immediately run out and buy
a copy of this book? NO, NO, a thousand times, NO. The Meditations is
one of those few books that everyone should read for help in working out
their own philosophy. We all have to come to grips with how we want to
live our own lives, what values we want to honor and MA is one of th e
writers who will help you work that out. He belongs in the company of St.
Augustine, of Montaigne, of Machiavelli, of Plato, and of the Buddha
(among many others- this list is mine own).
So, yes, read MA in the Hammond translation by all means. Remember
that he wrote this book so that he would have constant and personal
reminders to live up to his own philosophy. By reading this book, you may
come to some understanding of what it would be like to live up to your own
philosophy.
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