A few more gems from Marcus Aurelius.
For those who sometimes find it difficult to acccept help:
"Do not be ashamed of help. It is your task to achieve your assigned duty, like a soldier in a scaling party. What, then, if you are lame and cannot climb the parapet by yourself, but this is made possible with another’s help?"
How to cheer yourself up and value your friends:
"Whenever you want to cheer yourself, think of the qualities of your fellows – the energy of one, for example, the decency of another, the generosity of a third, some other merit in a fourth. There is nothing so cheering as the stamp of virtues manifest in the character of colleagues – and the greater the collective incidence, the better. So keep them ready to hand."
When bad things happen and life is hard:
"‘It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’ No, you should rather say: ‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, I can bear it without pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.’ Because such a thing could have happened to any man, but not every man could have borne it without pain. So why see more misfortune in the event than good fortune in your ability to bear it?... Can there be anything, then, in this happening which prevents you being just, high-minded, self-controlled, intelligent, judicious, truthful, honourable and free – or any of those attributes whose combination is the fulfilment of man’s proper nature. So in all future events which might induce sadness remember to call on this principal: ‘this is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune.’"
On Prayer:
"Either the gods have power or they do not. Now, if they have no power, why pray? If they do have power, why not pray for their gift of freedom from all worldly fear, desire, or regret, rather than the presence or absence of this or that? Certainly, if the gods can cooperate with men, they can cooperate to these ends.
But you might say: ‘The gods have put these things in my own power.’ Is it not then better to use your own power in freedom than show a servile and supine concern for what you cannot control? And who told you the gods do not help us even to the ends which lie within our own power? At any rate, pray about these things, and you will see. One man prays: ‘How can I sleep with this woman?’ Your prayer is: ‘How can I lose the desire to sleep with her?’ Another prays: ‘How can I be rid of that man?’ Your prayer: ‘How can I stop wanting to be rid of him?’ Another: ‘How can I save my little child?’ You: ‘How can I learn not to fear his loss?’ And so on. Give all your prayers this turn, and observe what happens."
I read Meditations of Marcus Aurelius at least one a year. I gain new insights with each reading.
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Originally Posted by El Cid
