Marcus Aurelius: A Nearer Look
Marcus Aurelius is extensively thought to be the daddy of Stoicism. He was a thinker and Roman emperor whose quotes are almost unavoidable on social media. Stoicism is predicated on the concept advantage and honor needs to be pursued when you endure the pains and hardships of life with little to no criticism. In a time of pandemics and financial hardships, it’s little surprise why Stoicism has made an enormous comeback in trendy instances.
Historical past remembers Marcus Aurelius as a philosophical powerhouse. But, in actuality, Marcus Aurelius is simply one of many well-known classical philosophers who adopted the beliefs of Stoicism. He actually outlined what it means to be mentally robust, however how robust was he?
Would Marcus Aurelius be capable of take up modern-day troubles with the identical stoic spirit that he did whereas he was emperor of Rome?
Was he bodily robust, mentally robust, or simply somebody who wrote about it in his journal?
Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the life and classes of Marcus Aurelius.
Bodily Toughness
You’ve most likely seen a bodybuilding put up on social media with a quote from Marcus Aurelius. His stoicism quotes are sometimes used to assist encourage folks to push themselves additional within the gymnasium. Probably the most in style exercise quotes is that this one: “Reject your sense of harm and the harm itself disappears.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
You may’ve additionally seen somebody posting about their tireless exercise routine with the caption: “You’ve got energy over your thoughts – not exterior occasions. Understand this, and you’ll discover power.”
From his well-known quotes, you’d suppose that Marcus Aurelius might completely squash a troublesome exercise routine, however was he a bodily imposing man in his actual life? Properly, as a navy man, Marcus Aurelius wasn’t precisely a troublesome soldier like Valerian or Maximinus Thrax. The reign of Marcus Aurelius was troubled with rebellions and international uprisings from the Parthians and Germans. There isn’t any surviving report of Aurelius himself doing any of the preventing, however he led a vigorous navy marketing campaign to reassert the dominance of Roman rule.
In accordance with Britannica, Marcus Aurelius wasn’t a person of strong bodily well being. A few of his well being issues included chest and abdomen pains, poor urge for food, and issues sleeping. He had to deal with a continual ulcer and each day medicines.
So, it’s secure to say that Aurelius’ bodily well being didn’t maintain with the trendy picture of a troublesome man. Though he wasn’t an imposing fighter or navy determine, his struggles to retain good well being definitely benefitted from the beliefs of Stoicism. He might stand up to bodily punishment and he always handled the idea of his personal mortality.
“If you come up within the morning consider what a privilege it’s to be alive, to suppose, to get pleasure from, to like …” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
“Consider your self as useless. You’ve got lived your life. Now, take what’s left and stay it correctly. What doesn’t transmit mild creates its personal darkness.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
“Don’t act as if you happen to had been going to stay ten thousand years. Demise hangs over you. When you stay, whereas it’s in your energy, be good.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
Psychological Toughness
In the event you’re fighting tough folks in your life or tough conditions, then Marcus Aurelius quotes can actually be useful. He typically spoke about ignoring negativity from others and focusing by yourself sense of shallowness. Aurelius was a proponent of internalizing problematic conditions and focusing your consideration on issues that you would be able to change by ignoring issues that you would be able to’t change.
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor in the course of the Golden Age of Rome. He got here from a outstanding political household; almost everybody held some form of excessive workplace earlier than or after Aurelius got here to energy. His transition to energy was peaceable and he was in style among the many folks he dominated over. So, why all of the brooding stoicism quotes from his writings?
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Marcus Aurelius confronted daunting diplomatic challenges. His writings in The Meditations may very well be thought to be notes to self. He wasn’t a lot as the daddy of Stoicism as he was the scholar of the philosophy. All his well-known quotes about being mentally robust had been his method of cultivating these habits inside himself.
“When one other blames you or hates you, or folks voice related criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what kind of folks they’re. You’ll notice that there isn’t any must be racked with anxiousness that they need to maintain any explicit opinion about you.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
“Little or no is required to make a contented life; it’s all inside your self in your mind-set.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
The Hyperlink Between CBT and Marcus Aurelius
Some would argue that with out Marcus Aurelius we wouldn’t have Cognitive Behavioural Remedy or CBT. It’s a sort of remedy that has been confirmed efficient towards melancholy, anxiousness, phobias, and suicidality. In CBT, there’s an underlying idea that your ideas, actions, and emotions are all linked. CBT implores you to problem unfavourable perception methods and ideas to create a brand new actuality for your self. CBT focuses in your present scenario, not a lot your previous, and the method of growing methods to interrupt out of unfavourable patterns.
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Donald Robertson, the writer of How you can Suppose Like a Roman Emperor, has made an intensive research on the lifetime of Marcus Aurelius. He praises Marcus Aurelius for his contribution to philosophy, psychotherapy, and the idea of psychological toughness. He additionally acknowledges the connection between the Stoics and trendy Cognitive Behavioural Therapists.
In an interview with DailyStoic.com, Robertson famous that, “Greek and Roman Stoicism impressed cognitive remedy, as we’ve seen, which is definitely identified to be an efficient method to dealing with ache. The Stoics clearly distinguish the sensations of ache and discomfort, which they view with neutrality and indifference, from our emotional misery in response to ache, which they view as, not less than partly, beneath our voluntary management and price bettering. Most individuals really feel pissed off with ache, give attention to it, and battle with it emotionally, and even when it comes to their behaviour. The Stoics train a radical acceptance of ache, which is definitely in keeping with trendy evidence-based psychotherapy.”
Emotional Toughness
One of many prevailing elements of Stoicism is anger administration. In actual fact, Marcus Aurelius himself struggled to manage his anger. There’s a complete part of his work, The Meditations, which offers solely with anger administration. So, this guide was a self-help journal for Aurelius.
“From Rusticus, I gained the concept I used to be in want of correction and remedy for my character,” he wrote.
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor, and that top workplace will surely have moments that challenged his means to manage his emotional resilience. Stoicism was a terrific method for him to redirect his power to issues that mattered probably the most. As an alternative of rising up in anger, he might problem the ideas and emotions to see in the event that they rang true.
“Each time you might be about to search out fault with somebody, ask your self the next query: What fault of mine most almost resembles the one I’m about to criticize?”
And right here’s one other:
“One of the best revenge is to not be like your enemy.”
Marcus Aurelius clearly wished to domesticate a way of emotional toughness in himself. It’s one thing that he struggled with in his personal life. The widespread publication of his struggles with emotional toughness makes him worthy of the accolades bestowed to him by later historians.
So, How Powerful Was Marcus Aurelius?
Though Marcus Aurelius will get a lot of the credit score for being the daddy of Stoicism, he wasn’t the originator of the idea. Aurelius discovered Stoicism from Epictetus, Plato, Zeno, Sextus of Chaeronea, and different philosophers that got here earlier than him. But, he excelled at advertising it to the remainder of the world as a result of he was a Roman emperor.
Marcus Aurelius benefitted from dwelling within the time of Roman greatness generally known as the Golden Period. He wasn’t a very exemplary statesman or navy commander. His philosophy is in style now, nevertheless it borrowed closely from the philosophers that got here earlier than him. Marcus Aurelius’ stoicism is all about conquering anger, overcoming self-doubt, reigning in unhealthy habits, and coming head to head with one’s personal mortality.
These are interior demons that males grapple with every day. So, the phrases of Marcus Aurelius have plenty of worth for the trendy man regardless that Aurelius wasn’t the robust man that historical past paints him to be. He was resilient and handled private adversities in a really public method. That alone makes him a mannequin for contemporary males to observe.