Marcus Aurelius: The Man Who Solved the Universe

Stoicism maintains that the wise man the good man the philosopher is a man who lives in accordance with nature he is only afraid to abdicate his moral responsibility he is not afraid of pain he is not afraid of death he is not afraid of poverty he is not afraid Afraid of any of the vicissitudes of The Human Condition, he is only afraid of disappointing himself and being less than a complete human being. The philosopher Marcus Aurelius was one of the founding fathers of Stoicism and is famous for his book Meditations on The idea of ​​being a great man is a little confusing, but there is perhaps no single person in history who has been more deserving of that title.

This is not a self-help video, I promise, but the philosophy that Marcus pioneered and wrote about can be an antidote to many of the problems we encounter in modern life. I want to show you why Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor who served from 161 AD. until 180 AD He was the last of the so-called five good emperors and served during a period known as the Pax Romana or the Roman piece; in fact, when Marcus Aurelius died, the Pax Romana ended. Aurelius when he was emperor was the most powerful man in the world, the Romans basically had no concept of the globe outside of their empire until now.

As he worried, Marco was effectively the ruler of the world in this position, he could have anything he wanted. He had set a precedent. The life of a Roman emperor was basically synonymous with hedonism. That's what Roman emperors did. They indulged in money, sex, wine and anything else. A persecution that even vaguely occurred to them was practically expected, so any vice that the mind could have considered was directly within the reach of Marcus Aurelius, it was completely free from the law of money, custom or even ethics, nothing and no one It would prevent him from realizing his wildest desires.

But even in those limitless circumstances, Marcus Aurelius chose a life of virtue, he chose to be a good man, and not just in an instant or on one occasion, but every day for the 19 years of his time as emperor. Marcus Aurelius was a fundamentally good man. good doesn't make you a great person, but imagine looking at the Beast of truly limitless fantasies and declaring that no, I choose virtue not for the sake of praise, fame or admiration, but simply for the sake of being good. , that's impressive, I mean, consider the circumstances and consider if I were in those circumstances for almost 20 years, could I constantly, day after day, overcome the monster of Temptation knowing that there would be no ramifications of any kind, no matter what choose to do?

What would he do? How would he act? I know that he could not follow the example of Marcus Aurelius and we know that it was a true example because when no one was looking it was when Marcus was in his best meditations it is a book written by Marcus Aurelius well, it is not really a book, it was Marcus's personal diary by Aurelius, this book is basically Marco navigating his way through life, it has no real structure other than being loosely divided into 12 parts and is only about 150 pages long. Meditations is the title that the editors have prescribed for it.

The writings had no title, they never were. intended to be read, much less published by anyone at any time other than Marcus himself, were the deepest confessions and beliefs of Marcus Aurelius. With that in mind, the meditations are immensely revealing as to the character of their writer because, Once again, Aurelio was not writing this for anyone. but despite this, seemingly improvised, the meditations on nature are one of the most powerful and moving books ever written, without a doubt, the best thing you can do is read the meditations for yourself, there are copies of it in almost every libraries and bookstores in the world. country maybe the world, but for the purposes of this video there are some ideas in there that I think are really worth examining oh Marcus Aurelius believed in living in accordance with nature by nature Aurelius was referring to plants and animals, yes, but also naturally.

The trees of the order of the

universe

grow because that is what they are made for, they grow as big as they can and become as beautiful as they can, not because they want praise or are looking for some external validation, but they grow to be powerful and awe-inspiring. -inspiring because that is what they are made for, that is the natural order, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, a fragile featherless chick becomes an eagle, not because they want to, but because they were also created in the same way Marcus believed the duty of a human being had to reach his potential, he did not believe in accumulating things or wealth (we will talk about that later) or in receiving awards or praise, nature had made you human and with that in mind it was your duty on this Earth to be the The kindest and most virtuous human being you can be to Marcus, this is the pinnacle of human achievement and unfulfilled potential, that was the darkest place you could sink into, after all, you can't control anything else, you can't. control what the world throws at you.

But you can control how you react and no matter what happens, a great person weathers the storm and reaches his full, most virtuous potential, that is your duty as a human being. Marcus Aurelius was an emperor, so although he enjoyed sitting around writing all day that wasn't his job and he didn't write much, he had to deal with a lot of things and a lot of people, above all, Marcus believed that people who were evil, evil or They were just somehow bad, they were just part of our

universe

, asking the world. Not introducing yourself to these people would be like asking a vine to exist without thorns, don't be ridiculous, there's just nothing you can do.

Marcus says that there are bad people and in your life you will find them. However, Marcus believed in kindness and believed that people never wanted to do something wrong, instead when people did something wrong it was simply out of ignorance, you can try to teach these people but it won't always be an option, for What we cannot control is whether the universe sends us the immoral, the wicked or the lazy, and if we cannot help these people as well, which we normally cannot, we simply have to endure it to do this. Marcus says you should look inward, he writes to himself.

Hello Marcus. You have flaws too, who are you to judge? You may have different flaws than these so-called bad people, but Marcus, you have your flaws. However, in a different conversation on a different day, maybe you, Marcus, would be the ignorant one and Marcus, it's possible. You just don't understand that he said to himself hey you can't even be sure that they are doing wrong the thief who steals to feed his family is not wrong you just don't understand it and many times in life you will You don't understand it and You won't know that you don't understand it, so again, don't judge.

Ultimately, Marcus Aurelius believed that we were all born for each other again and again, he reminded himself that that is the natural order. A tree produces fruit so that animals can eat animals die so that worms have food just as in the natural world we are all made to help each other, that is again our duty the only true failure in life would be to abdicate this responsibility so Marcus, you better do it and you better do it Well, we all go through adversity and Marcus Aurelius was no exception, but just like encountering bad people, Marcus realized that facing adversity is simply part of the human condition.

Again, you can only control what you can control, so don't pray that bad things don't happen. That's nonsense Marcus told himself those things are going to happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, but what you can control Marcus is that you can control how you react to them, you can control whether you are ready to face adversity. when it comes and it will happen Marcus says you know it will be when that day comes don't be sad because something bad happened don't feel bad for yourself don't get depressed instead feel lucky that you have the tools and spirit to make it through Unscathed, Marcus tells himself to endure these events like a brave man, to bravely go through adversity and come out on the other side when you realize that this supposedly bad thing wasn't bad at all, it was simply an opportunity to persist in order to better yourself and keep up. .

In the future, Marco Aurelia says that when these events come, don't complain, act, endure, you can bear something or not, so what happens if that unbearable thing comes your way? Don't disgrace yourself. Marcus, he says all men die, but no. all men die complaining Marcus Aurelius was a man of enormous wealth but he did not believe this was an inherent problem Marcus did not vilify material possession as other philosophers have done throughout history, but was cautious about his relationship with things he owned Marcus Aurelius could have had anything he wanted: money, houses, art, wine, but he decided not to.

He said Marcus doesn't dream about the physical things you want, they don't make sense, they don't fulfill your potential, only you can do that, he reflects on what you do. Have and value these things, remember how much you would want them if you didn't have them, but be careful Marcus, he tells himself not to value them so much that you would be discouraged if they just disappeared, they don't matter, they are nice. but they don't matter they don't improve you as a person they don't make you more virtuous or kinder your potential is not accumulating things Marcus no human potential is greater than that you must live in accordance with nature Marcus Aurelia He spent a lot of time thinking so much about the death that would be impossible to make this video without discussing his opinions on the subject and his views on death were simple.

It's coming, whether you like it or not, he tells himself over and over again. out of your control, so don't waste time fearing death or worrying about mortality, just as Nature has assigned us to be good, help each other, and reach our full potential. Nature has assigned us to die, death is a duty, so while you are here, live, be kind, be good, fulfill your role in nature and then die because death is also part of that role. Marcus Aurelius, along with a couple of other men, was an ancestor of the philosophy known as Stoicism, the Stoics believed in many things, his school of thought.

It covers logic, ethics, physics, and much more, but there is one distinction that lies at the center of Stoic philosophy: the distinction between pleasure versus happiness, money, fame, even success, where external stimuli provided fleeting moments of pleasure, but This was not happiness, happiness was The not so temporary concept of Happiness was something more, it was a state of being that came entirely from within, it did not come from being an emperor like Marcus Aurelius, it did not come from any worldly thing, the Stoic said that to achieve happiness you must live a life of virtue you must continue to improve yourself and become all you can the only failure the only true pain the only true sadness The only thing worth fearing is disappointment by not reaching your potential because and only because to be great is your duty to be great is, in your own nature, strange.