This post is the sixth 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 those of you who participated in the comments last week. Let me know if you would like to join.

Book 6

Summary and Highlights

I'm a little short on time, so I'm just going to stream-of-consciousness through my reading of Book 6 this morning.

Nature is pliable, obedient. And the logos that governs it has no reason to do evil. It knows no evil, does none, and causes harm to nothing.

I was struck here with the description that both Nature and the logos seem described as "unconscious". I'm eternally sorting out what these elusive terms mean, but sometimes I'm tempted to correlate the logos with the rational mind of man. Sometimes it seems like the Greeks are worshiping the rational faculty, but Marcus' statement here emphasizes either an unconscious ignorance, or transcendent reality to these worshipful objects of philosophy. Maybe both? Maybe Divine Paradox?

Dying, too, is one of our assignments in life.

Calls me to remember that dying is really "transforming". If metaphysics or other ancient traditions are too difficult to believe, modern man can hear it's echos in the first law of thermodynamics, "energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed." More interestingly, is Marcus' admonition to take up that process of transformation, or act of dying, as a job or duty, to be performed well, to the best of our ability.

Before long, all existing things will be transformed, to rise like smoke (assuming all things become one), or be dispersed in fragments.

This reminded me of Jacob's dream in the Old Testament of a ladder to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, and it sort of reminds me of the cycle of samsara as well. Transformation from unity to dispersion and back to unity, over and over again. I also like the allusion to smoke, as Marcus begins to incorporate the elements in his musings on transformation. A Tantric / Alchemical vibe.

The best revenge is not to be like that.

This quote is an early candidate for favorite from Book 6. So concise, yet powerful and deep to consider. The best revenge is not to participate in the nature of your attacker. Not to become like what you are attacked by. Furthermore, by refusing to be caught up in reactivity, we remain free -- free from the control an adversary is trying to impose upon us. Truly, the best revenge is to render an adversary powerless over us and invalidate their quality by our very way of being.

(i) Mixture, interaction, dispersal; or (ii) unity, order, design. Suppose (i): Why would I want to live in disorder and confusion? Why would I care about anything except the eventual "dust to dust"? Why would I feel anxiety? Dispersal is certain, whatever I do. Or suppose (ii): Reverence. Sincerity. Faith in the power responsible.

I'm quoting this not because I fully understand it, but because it is an interesting exposition of Marcus doing thought experiments to find meaning between multiple polarities of existence. I like the feel that he is working something out in his diary. For me, the polarity that seems to be emerging is continued from #1 as Nature vs. logos and from #4 as rising smoke vs. dispersing fragments. Marcus seems to be recognizing a fundamental polarity, and trying to unite it with meaning.

That's what we need to do all the time -- all through our lives when things lay claim to our trust -- to lay them bare and see how pointless they are, to strip away the legend that encrusts them. Pride is master of deception: when you think you're occupied in the weightiest of business, that's when he has you in his spell.

Nothing super revolutionary here, but I like this last description of pride. It's true, I've often found that I get bitten by life and taken down a peg when I feel like whatever I've got going on it big and important. Marcus does a great job in this passage of relativizing things like good food, drink, luxuries and sex. They're only important because of the interpretive layer we allow our mind to put on them. This whole complex of pride is a delusion of the mind.

Things ordinary people are impressed by fall into the categories of things that are held together by simply physics (like stones or wood), or by natural growth (figs, vines, olives...). Those admired by more advanced minds are held together by a living soul (sheep, herd of cows)... But those who revere that other mind -- the one we all share, as humans and as citizens -- aren't interested in other things. Their focus is on the state of their own minds -- to avoid all selfishness and logic, and to work with others to achieve that goal.

I don't have much to add to this, but I really liked the organizational hierarchy of values, and how it made me think of gravity. It feels like Marcus is alluding to a sort of spiritual gravity at the center of each individual thing, and which attracts the "impression" or attention of other related things to it. Perhaps that center is analogous to a Spirit or Soul? By emphasizing the the relatedness of "those who revere that other mind", I also consider that not only do I have my own unique center holding "me" together, but that I am a particle gravitating toward a shared center of the Human organism... and beyond. Time to put away the mushrooms?

The elements move upward, downward, in all directions. The motion of virtue is different -- deeper. It moves at a steady pace, on a hard road to discern, and always forward.

Sounds like the Middle Way of the Buddha. Again, this Tantric/Alchemical study of transformation, but this time with emphasis on the path through it -- with dedication and commitment.

All of us are working on the same project. Some consciously, with understanding; some without knowing it... The world needs them too.

This is a good reminder for dealing with other people, but also with myself. There is no use in judging or paying attention to how others spend their time and attention. I can't change it anyway. But more importantly, there are days where I'm more unfocused and unconscious, where I'm less in touch with "philosophy". Those days are important too. There are times where I naturally fall into an ordered cadence of routine and productivity, and other times, my body needs a death/transformation of my routines in order to integrate, process and prepare for new phases of activity. This has gotten a bit off topic from the quote, but I guess I see the necessity for both sides of the polarity between Order and Nature Marcus is describing -- and after oscillating between the two, balancing and coming into more harmony, we get closer to the steady, straight, forward line from #17.

With 59 stanzas, Book 6 was rather lengthy and there are a lot more good quotes and concepts. I feel like I've approached some degree of reflection in my journey through each of the comments above, so I'll skip that section this time around. I'm interested to see what anybody else came up with.

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 :)

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56 sats \ 1 reply \ @Taft 16 Mar

Great posts, as always!

The second quote caught my attention. I like your point that "energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed." Marcus, as a stoic, didn't believe in the afterlife as other ancient philosophies or traditional religions do.

But, instead, he believed that the soul returns to the universe after death. The soul was a part of the collective universal being, which would be absorbed back into the heavens after death.

This is the reason, I think, why Marcus considers the "act of dying, as a job or duty, to be performed well, to the best of our ability," as you put it.

Even though I don't necessarily see things the same way, I still think it's a really cool and interesting point of view!

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 16 Mar

Thank you, and thanks for engaging :) Yeah, the Stoic metaphysics is really fascinating, and I appreciate the fractal nature of both seeing "myself" composed of individual cellular entities, while acknowledging that "I" am also a cellular unit of another, higher, organism. The logos puts the "organization" in Nature, and the organization in organism.... haha. Bad joke.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 19 Mar

spiritual gravity

I thought I would do something differently n respond to your reflections first before reading Meditations haha. This phrase is very comforting. It’s the first week of school. So far, I have been a good boy and am sleeping at 11pm without succumbing to revenge procrastination. But somehow, I wake up at 5am the next day (half an hour earlier before my alarm). I feel reasonably sharp but maybe there is a residual anxiety within me that gnaws at my consciousness. So many things to do, so little time, no time for deep work n decompression! But spiritual gravity kinda calms me down. I want to grow into an oak tree with deep roots, unfettered by the storms of life. I do want to strengthen my inner core, yet maintain a fun lightheartedness to it all 🙃

Thanks for writing xP