Final highlights of Meditations
(Chapters 3 – 8) It took me a while, but here are the final highlights from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.
The Well: Dig inside; inside is the fountain of good, and it will forever flow, if you will forever dig.
When your inner spirit is in harmony with Nature, it can adapt easily to all events and possibilities.
We can compare the spirit to a bonfire that consumes whatever is thrown in it. If the fire is feeble it can be extinguished, but a strong blaze feeds on everything and its flames grow even higher.
Peace lies within.
Nothing is sadder than people who. . . as the poets says, “search the bowels of the earth” and peer intently into the minds of others without realizing that all they need to discover is their own inner spirit.
Inner Truth
The soul can expand to contain the entire universe and the surrounding void. [I]t extends itself into the infinity of time. . .
Short is the life we lead, and small our patch of earth.
the parade of humanity is transient and trivial
Don’t seek to gain anything for yourself that forces you to break your word or lose self-respect; to hate. . . or to be insincere or to desire something that needs to remain secret.
Perspective: Gaze in wonder at the ever-circling star, as if you were floating among them; and consider the alterations of the elements, constantly changing into one another. Thinking such thoughts washes away the dust of life on earth.
A Reason for Everything: To remember this helps you face uncertainty with tranquility.
Anything that is beautiful is beautiful just as it is. True beauty has no need of anything beyond itself.
Nature does not bring you anything you can’t endure.
When you are disturbed by events and lose your serenity, quickly return to yourself and don’t stay upset longer than the experience lasts; for you’ll have more mastery over your inner harmony by continually returning to it.
[D]eal with everything with perfect and simple dignity; maintain a feeling of compassion, independence, and justice, and keep your mind free from all other thoughts.
[T]rue freedom is in the mind.
Will you ever find the happiness of pure simplicity or dignity? Or the serene understanding of the inner essence of each object?
Posted by Amanda at October 15, 2003 06:09 PM
