Ep. #375: Book Club Podcast: My Top 5 Takeaways from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

2019-02-11

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The featured book this time around is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. And I know, this recommendation is pretty “basic” of me as stoicism is all the rage these days, but I’m going to make it anyway because I really do believe everyone can benefit from this book and stoic philosophy. I feel that’s especially true in today’s zeitgeist, which is moving further and further away from individualism, resilience, and responsibility and toward fear, fragility, and egoism. In fact, many young people in...

The featured book this time around is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

And I know, this recommendation is pretty “basic” of me as stoicism is all the rage these days, but I’m going to make it anyway because I really do believe everyone can benefit from this book and stoic philosophy.

I feel that’s especially true in today’s zeitgeist, which is moving further and further away from individualism, resilience, and responsibility and toward fear, fragility, and egoism. In fact, many young people in particular are upping the stakes by downright scorning many traditionally admired attitudes and behaviors and blindly celebrating their opposites.

And I fear the consequences of this cultural experiment, which are already unfolding in a number of aways, are going to be severe. In short, I’d bet a lot of shekels that here in the West at least, the scene is going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better.

But hey, hopefully I’m wrong.

Anyway, back to the book—in case you’re not familiar with him, Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor who earned the reputation of “philosopher king” during his lifetime and has since been recognized as one of history’s greatest rulers in both character and deed.

Meditations, originally titled To Myself, contains Aurelius’ reflections on virtue, desire, rationality, emotions, the nature of the gods, and more.

While many of his insights resonated with me, the messages that hit home the most were his views on how to dispassionately and effectively deal with the difficulties of life, the importance of avoiding hate and the intention to harm, and the value of living honestly and with purpose.

A bit of humble self-reflection is good for the soul, and Meditations will take you on a brief, but meaningful (and maybe even cathartic), introspection.

Let’s get to the takeaways.

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