This post is the third in an experimental Stoic Philosophy book club series on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Participants expressing interest are tagged at the end of the post, let us know if you're new and would like to join and be tagged!

Prior posts for context:

Thanks to @cryotosensei, @gd and @siggy47 for their participation in the comments last week. I'm continuing the experiment of forwarding sats to "members" who added to the discussion in the previous week. Let us know if you would like to participate regularly and be tagged as a member.

Book 4

Summary and Highlights

This was a weird week for me. I don't know what it was, but I found it hard to stay focused. Perhaps it has something to do with the fervor of activity in the Bitcoin community due to excitement around price movements. So far, Marcus writings have felt to me like they have more emphasis in staying Stoic in the face of adversity. However, with seemingly "good" news happening in the Bitcoin space, I'm starting to get in touch with the other side -- that all of these blessings and triumphs are transient and won't matter at the end of life. What is important is to act well according to the situation at hand. If nothing else, it's fascinating to consider how much of what I get out of the reading is colored by what is going on in my own subjective, little life. And if things heat up, staying Stoic in the face of euphoria might be both really essential and really hard. Here are some of my highlights:

No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.

This is repeated a lot in the hippy spiritual scene (Yours Truly not previously exempt) as "everything happens for a reason". But for some reason, the way it's phrased sounds scientific and made me read it as like it was coming from a physics textbook. One one hand, the mind is tempted to dive down the rabbit hole and pin down the cause-and-effect relationship. On the other, there is a beauty and tranquility when Marcus chalks it all up to "Fate" and accepts it without needing to know.

I am reminded of hours of podcasts I've watched on "Bitcoin from first principles" and considering the mental stories of how broken money is the root of so many problems in the world. But then there is the other side -- just live my life in the best I can with what I know and let that be that.

People will try to get away from it all -- to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: You can get away from it anytime you like.

I spent a stint of time working remotely while traveling and this is one of those lessons that emerged from the experience. One can be working on the beach, in the most beautiful place in the world, but have their consciousness tied up in a task involving a computer in a data center across the globe. Then the environment doesn't matter. I found that it was a real practice to be able to "switch" from working to being present with my body and surroundings. It's still challenging to do so -- sometimes I take my work in my head as I'm doing other things, but Marcus' observation that the freedom is in the ability to put yourself in the present, or where you need to be, was an astute discovery.

If thought is something we share, then so is reason -- what makes us reasoning beings.

This passage connects me in reflection to @gd's comment from last week, about the mind and the body being separate. There are some schools of thought that say there are different faculties of the mind. One is an "organ of perception" -- perhaps that which perceives thoughts? And there is a higher order of the mind -- perhaps what Marcus describes as "reason" here? His definition of Reason is not a concise discussion, but the quote here and his separation between "thought" and "reason" reminds me of those teachings.

The rest of this passage is also really cool in that he describes what else we "share" by illustrating how everything is connected.

Choose not to be harmed -- and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed and you haven't been.

Short, sweet and powerful. Fully realizing this means taking sovereignty over our fear and emotions. Much easier to say than do. I'll refrain from quoting Spiderman, but it also reminds me of the responsibility that sovereignty brings, and the feeling of making that first Bitcoin transaction or the feeling of moving into self-custody. It's both exhilarating to experience the freedom, but it comes with the confrontation of the fear and possibility of messing it all up. A corollary to Marcus' statement here is the tough truth that you are the only one responsible for continuing to play the victim-perpetrator game.

You have functioned as part of something; you will vanish into what produced you. Or be restored, rather. To the logos from which all things spring. By being changed.

This quote is simultaneously poetic, blatantly obvious and containing deep mystery. An observation that can only be made so naturally by deeply studying and absorbing the processes of Nature. Don't have much else to say other than: Agree.

If you seek tranquility, do less.

I'm in the process of experimenting with this right now. Sometimes a preoccupation with productivity, efficiency or achievement is a way of hiding from fear and self-judgment. Slowly, I'm beginning to relax into allowing myself to "do less", but it requires confronting these hindrances in the process. Later, Marcus says to only do "what is necessary", and answering that question self-reflectively seems to be the emerging next step. From his other writings, it sounds like taking stock of circumstances in life. What I a husband, am I a father, am I a citizen? What are the responsibilities and necessities for performing those roles well? And are the archetypes dictated by society or coming from within? Still very much in progress for me.

The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object.

This might be my favorite quote from Book 4. It certainly echos spiritual teachings of many traditions. In yoga, there is a state of "Samadhi" or oneness. A samadhi can be performed on anything -- a blade of grass, a candle flame, another person, whatever. But the yogis have investigated what the highest object samadhi can be practiced upon. I won't elaborate further, but this idea is of course reiterated in conventional wisdom that we "are what we eat" and we become like who and what we spend our time with. The obvious question is: what do you spend most of your time on? How valuable is that?

Everything is transitory -- the knower and the known.

Again, this is a deep one. He is observing that observers change as they observe what they are observing as it changes. Some depictions of God are the "all knowing" or "all seeing", Ultimate Observer. And if you carry that forward, is Marcus meditation assigning a dynamic, changeable attribute to God himself?

Reflections & Discussion

Reputation

It might not be worthwhile to spend my time analyzing the minds of others, but I can't help be curious about the character of Marcus Aurelius himself through his readings. I found a few quotes, specifically in 3, 16 and 18, where the emerging topic is reputation -- both what contemporary people think and legacy after death. My guess would be this is something of a topic for him through Book 4.

I also a pertinent contemplation today. Reputation might also be a sort of emergent currency today in Bitcoin, in internet culture, in open-source software, in influencoor society and perhaps even in the V4V community. I guess it has always been one... I'll withhold a lot of mixed and incomplete thoughts and critiques on the idea for now, but it's interesting to imagine Marcus' challenges around it as Emperor of Rome, and see it emergent in myself and the communities I participate in. To his point, though, achieving it doesn't save anyone the fate of death and eventually being forgotten. It's probably nothing new, just a theme that jumped out to me.

Judgement

In the second half of the reading, I felt an emphasis on judgement, and how judging oneself and others is harmful, or violent even. Probably best described in 39,

Nothing that goes on in anyone else's mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you. -- Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine. Let that part of you that makes that judgment keep quiet...

This stands out to me probably because I've experienced it, struggled with it, so I can relate easily. Judging others is usually a reaction to the reality of judging myself. And in any case, being judged by myself or by others often has a cutting, violent feeling, and easily creates a sort of vicious circle of inflicting harm. I sense a focus from Marcus on this topic for Book 4.

Participants

Thank you everyone who has been reading Meditations, and participated in the discussions.

Feel free let me know if you don't want to be on the tag list anymore :)

@siggy47 @cryotosensei @carlosfandango @Bitman @gd @sudocarlos @BitByBit21 @bc52210b20 @Atreus @byzantine @davidw @Roll @grayruby

Please signal interest in the comments if you'd like to be tagged.

119 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei fwd 5 Mar

Thanks, @Se7enZ

Many of the quotes you highlighted struck me during my reading as well. To add to the discussion,

I work as a teacher and the trend in the education fraternity is to notice the good and give students targetted positive praise so that they can develop a growth mindset. This is why this paragraph jumped at me. I guess the ultimate aim of education is to help the individual recognise the vitality within himself, to quote Joseph Campbell. But I think this is a lofty ideal to achieve in today’s era of social media-fuelled landscape. Content creators literally rely on external validation from others to make a living. When your bread and butter is inextricably linked to the extent in which people like click subscribe n forward your content, it’s hard to rely on your mind as the only worthy source of affirmation. Even the V4V ethos deviates from this. Just the way it is framed: I provide value in hopes to get back value, right? So how do i tailor (notice I didn’t say pander, haha) my content to your needs so that I can have the best chances of generating value?

I was also intrigued by this. Just examining a negative thought will make it no more (or at least, diminish its power). My first defense is that it’s easier said than done! But I guess that’s where daily, deliberate meditation comes in. When we get into a routine of feeling and analysing negative thoughts before discarding them, we build our tenacity for the catastrophic curveballs life throws us.

To digress slightly, I think the Japanese people are regular folks like the rest of us. But why do they practise the Stoic philosophy so naturally when tsunamis happen? Perhaps it’s because it’s such a routine-rich (some will say regimental haha) nation that the Japanese just automatically fall back on the things they can do. I admire their deep reservoirs of resilience.

Another quote along the same line.

Thanks for initiating the book club! It has become a sanctuary, especially since we are powering through Million Sats Madness. It’s great to step back from the fervent zapping and engage myself totally with the book and your thoughts xP

Bonus: you might want to give this podcast a go. She distinguishes between mindfulness and meditation, which will fire you up, be it good or bad. She notably said that she doesn’t believe in bucket lists because if we do all we can to be happy in the moment, we shouldn’t need to look forward to an arbitrary future.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 6 Mar

I guess the ultimate aim of education is to help the individual recognise the vitality within himself, to quote Joseph Campbell

Exactly! I love Joseph Campbell's ideas, although I'm more familiar with them through reading other people.

So how do i tailor (notice I didn’t say pander, haha) my content to your needs so that I can have the best chances of generating value?

This topic you bring up has been something I've been exploring my whole life. I have a lot of friends who are artists, musicians, writers and comedians, and it's been really interesting, and often disappointing, to watch them struggle with negotiating their artistic vision against audience perception and popularity. I've always believed very deeply that if one creates from their deepest sense of individual authenticity, that such an endeavor cannot help but be successful. When I was younger, I guess this sort of thinking manifested itself in my rebellious tirades against "selling out to The Man". However, as I get older, I am coming to appreciate more the value of patience in realizing results, and learning to slowly redefine what I consider to be success away from public approval, and more toward a sense of inner satisfaction. Maybe the world around you needs to catch up to the unique gift you're here to share with it, or something like that?

With Internet and influencer culture, it feels to me like society is grappling with this more and more and I don't think it will slow down.

I'll check out that podcast when I have time, and may the blessings of Dionysus be with you through Million Sats Madness ;)

76 sats \ 2 replies \ @Taft 4 Mar

The idea of this Stoic Book Club is great! Lately, I've been reading 'Meditations' on my own. I'm really enjoying it. They are great life lessons. I'm glad to see you're reading it and sharing your thoughts on it. Maybe I'll slow down and wait for you to catch up to Book Five, so we can continue reading together.

From Book Four, I would like to highlight this one:

You have a mind? Yes. Well, why not use it? Isn't that all you want ᅳ for it to do its job?

Loved it!

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 4 Mar

Nice! You're welcome to join. If you decide to wait, let us know if you want to be tagged on the next post. The current grove seems to be writing one on the weekend.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Taft 4 Mar

Thanks! Yes, I want!

77 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 fwd 2 Mar

These have all been very good, but this analysis is fantastic. You are really doing us all a service. Thanks.

184 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 2 Mar

Thanks for the kind words. It's truly a pleasure to actually feel like this is a substantial project with the sincere engagement last week.

77 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei fwd 3 Mar

I really enjoyed reading this. You have come into your own, revealing how you connect with Marcus’ meditations based on your experiences and societal observations. It’s like witnessing you gel with Marcus in a metaphysical way haha.

Will read Book 4 starting tomorrow!