Creator Appreciation – Marcus Aurelius and Meditations
Posted on August 14, 2024 by Aywren
I’ve been going through some rough patches on and off for the past couple of years, and on a search to find ideas and wisdom to help me get through the storm. Sometime last year, I happened upon a video that introduced me to Stoic philosophy, namely, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his book Meditations.
Now, if you’re like me, the first thing you think of when you hear the word “stoic” is someone who is without emotion or suppresses emotion. And you go… that’s not for me, I’m a very emotional person!
I’m also a very emotional person, but I found Stoic philosophy to be very different from what the initial term would lead me to believe. In fact, it’s fascinating, full of practical wisdom and ideas that are more than just emotionless concepts.
Stoic philosophy provides suggestions on how to approach life in very applicable ways. That’s what’s most appealing to me. It’s not just self-help that sounds nice but has no application or relevance. These are mindsets you can practice (and I do stress the word practice) and work towards integrating in your everyday interactions and thoughts.
I first discovered Stoic philosophy while turning to YouTube with a search on how to deal with the troubles I had at that time. I ran across a video created by a well-known writer, Ryan Holiday, who runs the Daily Stoic.
I wish I could remember what video that was in particular (he has so many GOOD videos to watch if you’re struggling in life), but sadly I don’t. All I remember was that it was what I needed to hear at the time, and it turned my interest towards learning more about Stoic philosophy.
I’m not going to try to talk philosophy here in this post because I’m still a super noob. But I will say that I quickly went out to find a copy of Meditations for myself – I did some research on what was the easiest to understand translation first. Meditations can be a struggle to read depending on the translation, but I found that the 2003 “New Translation” version was highly recommended.
I’ve read through it, am currently Commonplacing it – click if you want sample quotes of what you’ll find there. I can also recommend it as an easy read that provides a doorway into all of the wisdom that Marcus Aurelius can offer.
You can find this free as PDFs online, but there’s something rewarding about having it in a physical version where you can highlight passages – I highlighted A LOT. If you have no other way of checking it out, I do suggest searching “free PDF Meditations” or using the link above to give it a try.
Also, check out the Daily Stoic channel I linked above and the website here. Ryan Holiday does a good job in bringing the philosophy to folks in an understandable way. Here’s an example of a basic, quick breakdown of what Stoic philosophy is about.