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Sunday 13 July 2014

"MEDITATIONS" OF MARCUS AURELIUS ON THE ART OF LIVING

2014-28  What I learnt from the "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius
              on the Art of Liviing


Marcus Aurelius [121 AD - 180 AD]
[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus  [121 AD – 180 AD] was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. 
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.
Marcus was clearly familiar with the Discourses of Epictetus, hailed as the greatest of the Stoics, quoting them a number of times (see Med. 11.33-38). ] 



1.  "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."












2.  "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.  The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
















3.  "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."










4.  "Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it."












5.  "If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word that you utter, you will live happy, and there is no man able to prevent this."




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FNGuiKPGfM




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