Stoicism is in fashion.
Yes, because it is a philosophy that gives us guidelines for serenity and self-control.
And why now?
We live in a moment similar to that which occurred in the second century AD, when Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations. The emperor lived through epidemics, invasions, plague, war… Very complicated times in which each person must develop his or her human potential.
And what does the emperor teach us?
Fulfill your mission no matter what happens in the face of adversity, he tells us; very important in times of turbulence like the current one.
The what we know, the how is complicated.
Marcus Aurelius recommends introspection to himself to discover his own potential. Take greater responsibility for our own well-being and emotional resilience.
What is the problem?
We have lost that habit; How much time do we spend talking to ourselves?
And with the others?
That is another interesting reflection from Marcus Aurelius, that others are another part of you. He tells us: “We are born to collaborate, just like the feet, the hands, the eyelids, the rows of teeth, upper and lower. To act, therefore, as enemies of one another is contrary to nature.” He casts out judgment and you will have been saved, he insists.
Social cohesion is more complicated.
Marcus Aurelius tells us that your enemy is your alter ego, we are bees in a hive.
Reflections written during ten years of military conflicts at the foot of the battle.
Yes, horrifying wars on the Danube border. He wrote them in Hellenistic Greek as a conversation with himself, he did not give them titles and he never thought that anyone would read them.
The private notes of the most powerful man in the world?
His writings do not talk about his achievements or politics, something unheard of in an emperor or politician, he considers the key things in life.
What are you left with?
There is a very beautiful passage that says that you already know everything because it repeats itself, the same emotions, passions, errors, historical cycles. And I like what he says about philosophy.
Of course, it’s your topic.
He says that patricians buy a country house or a house on the beach to rest. They are fools, he insists, they do not realize that the best refuge is within oneself, you can retreat at any time of the day to your interior and there collect yourself and purify yourself to return to action.
An intelligent and thoughtful man.
Inside him he has two voices: one that tells him that he will not be able to overcome all the trials of life that plague him, and another voice that guides him, his inner teacher. We all have a guiding principle that tells us where to go.
How did this diary reach us?
The notebook disappeared until the 8th or 9th century. It appears when a Byzantine bishop finds the manuscript and it is copied and spread. In the Renaissance it became very famous. Then in the Enlightenment it was read by great enlightened rulers, like Voltaire.
Then he triumphs among politicians without talking about politics and network magnates.
Yes, he influenced Philip II of Spain, Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia or George Washington; Roosevelt read it in moments of anguish, and Bill Clinton. Even former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao claims that he had devoured it more than a hundred times.
What do you attribute it to?
Pierre Hadot, philosopher and historian, said that there are many charlatans who tell you how to live, but for the first time Marcus Aurelius simply talks about how he tries to be a human being in the best possible way.
How does Marcus Aurelius approach death?
He saw seven of his children die and focuses on the suffering by looking at human beings from a distance, as if we were small insects. Death according to him is not an evil, it is a change of state. You have to leave without fuss.
Like ants, there is no other choice.
He insists that we must live without fear of the future, transcending the opinions of others and with detachment from goods and passions, only then will we live in freedom.
What are the lessons of late antiquity for today?
Athenian democracy or the Roman republic were blown up by partisan fighting, social injustice and the lack of distribution of public resources. The greed.
A few kept everything.
Yes, and the population lost their freedom. Today we are facing the same errors. Cicero and Demosthenes saw how a cultured and civilized system fell into civil discord, massacres of citizens, totalitarianism and populism.
Marco Aurelio is today a celebrity.
There are a lot of false quotes, a hodgepodge of commonplaces on the networks that Marcus Aurelius would be horrified.
