The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was perhaps the only true philosopher-king in the history of the world.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was perhaps the only true philosopher-king in the history of the world. He was often not an original or a systematic philosopher, but in his meditations, a series of notes to himself, he formulated his pantheist Stoic beliefs with a passionate religious conviction.

He shared the basic Stoic belief in the divinity of the cosmos as an intelligent being with a soul, and stressed (perhaps too fatalistically) the harmony of all things and the importance of resigning oneself to whatever happened.

Marcus Aurelius reigned from 161 AD to 180 AD. He seems to have been a good and conscientious ruler who was generous towards his enemies. He banned informers, stamped down hard on corruption, and freed slaves at every opportunity. Although he tolerated the circus, he ordered gladiators to fight with blunted points. Needing extra funds for his wars in Eastern Europe, he refused to raise taxes but instead held a public auction of his own golden tableware and of his wife's silk and gold embroidered dresses.

The Meditations were written day by day, in every situation including war. They often appear to be responses to the stress of supreme power, from the imminent fear of death in battle, to the trials of everyday life.

With hindsight Marcus' greatest omission was that he did not impose Stoicism as the imperial religion, with as much rigour as Theodosius later imposed Christianity. Had he done so, the history of the world might have turned out very differently. But the fact that he was more tolerant might be regarded as another of his virtues.

Marcus Aurelius spoke of many things in the meditations each having their own significance, the unity of the universe was for Aurelius an important concept.

“There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains and infinite other things. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies, which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among several natures and individual limitations. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided.” [12.30]

The idea that Aurelius is trying to get across here is that we are all inter-linked and dependent upon each other and in the end if we lose touch with ourselves we will lose ourselves in the continuum of life. We all are a part of this larger existence and we, as individuals are the physical makeup of the universe all having strengths and weaknesses which force us to be dependent upon one another for our own survival.

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“Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.” [4.40]

As is indicated the universe and our being in it are completely bonded, as one would not be without the other. Without living beings to exist in the universe there would be no ...

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As is indicated the universe and our being in it are completely bonded, as one would not be without the other. Without living beings to exist in the universe there would be no universe. At least in understanding the effect that living beings have on one another it is easy to see the effect that is placed upon each individual within the universe. We as fragments of the greater universe are accountable to everything within it, and as such this places a great responsibility upon each of us as being individually and

wholly a part of the universe. We are not keepers of the universe but rather guardians of it in that we as the highest known beings in the universe are needed to keep things in order. This may seem difficult to do from our small piece in it but if we can maintain balance here then the universe that we know is in balance with it.

“All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other things. For things have been coordinated, and they combine to make up the same universe. For there is one universe made up of all things, and one god who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, and one reason.” [7.9]

“The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now molds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else . . .. Nature, which governs the whole, will soon change all things, which you see, and out of their substance will make other things, and again other things . . . in order that the world may be ever new.” [7.23] It is from this constant renewal that our universe is able to purge the evil and regenerate from it the purity of rebirth. Basically the renewal of things is a cycle that enables all to be taken in and produced back into something different yet still similar. This also indicates that all is intertwined from the same root no matter how far they split and branch off.

“The nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things that are and to make new things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.” [4.36] Aurelius suggests that everything will change and become something more as it is a “seed” of something greater. Change is something that all will encounter and should embrace because nothing is infinite in its current state and all will change in time. As such we should be mindful of things that are different because it might be that the difference we see is not a difference but instead an advancement of the living being.:

Human beings are social animals we are dependent upon each other and if we all cooperate then anything is possible. “We are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature.” [2.1] Humankind has always been able to communicate with each other whether through speech or body language we know nothing but communication our society is based upon communication. If we lost the ability to communicate our fears, passions and many other emotions and human states we would be as lifeless drones without cause or purpose. Man needs to be able to express themselves in order to coexist and survive.

“This you must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no-one who hinders you from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which you are a part.” [2.9]

If we can be at peace with the workings of the natural world then we can be at one with each other and ourselves. Yet being at one with ones self is the highest importance because we can then communicate to ourselves and those around us with greater ease and ability. In communicating with each other we are able to interface with our other selves of the similar soul as depicted by Aurelius. It is our duty as the benefactors of those who came before us to continue to mould ourselves into new beings from the knowledge of our predecessors. In this manner we are more able to harmonize with the universe and all it encompasses. Once we have truly discovered what we are, the universe will guide us to the place that we need to be in.

“You have embarked, you have made the voyage, you have come to the shore: get out.” [3.3] This statement is one that I found to be rather interesting in that it makes no exception it is blunt to the point and demanding of whomever has made the voyage through life. No matter how grand or bland your voyage may have been in the end we all disembark from our voyage and reach for the next shore. Whatever that shore may be, as it is different for everyone and everything yet absolutely the same in it’s finality.

“You have existed as a part. You shall disappear in that which produced you; or rather, you shall be received back into its seminal principle by transmutation.” [4.14] This just speaks to the basic Christian view of “dust to dust and ashes to ashes” We all return to whence we came. Yet in our passing we are simply returning home to the creator or our beginning.

“Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end your journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.” [4.48] Welcome old age because it is proof that you have lived and brought yourself through duress and prosperity. This is what life is made up of a series of events that all lead from our weening to our cessation of breath. With an abundant splash of knowledge acquired along the way through these stages in our lives we are better able to teach those who are coming up and will make mistakes as we did. With our knowledge we may be able to save them the full wrath of the situation yet at the same time allow them the opportunity to learn the same thing we did. Don’t regret aging as it is a coming of things only greater. Pass through this life and into the great beyond, and be thankful for all that dies as it has lived at one time or other.

“Every part of me will be reduced by change into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on forever. And by consequence of such a change I too exist, and those who begot me, and so on forever in the other direction.” [5.13] Once we’ve left the physical world someone will remember us and even through change we will still be with them in some capacity and, through them we’d live on. This constant change around the universe is representative of our beings existing in another time and place yet in those places our being will always be intact.

Marcus Aurelius saw things as they were and as such was able to through written word bring this view to others who may never have seen it otherwise. Aurelius can be and should be studied as a great stoic for in his writings of the Meditations he encompasses the unity of the universe, change, the social animal, harmonizing with the universe and facing death. These topics are all dealt with today by scholars and even the ignorant. Perhaps Aurelius was right in that we are all inter-connected and as such we share a common soul with everyone who lives and has lived. This would make us all one and the same yet with different weaknesses and strengths forcing us to work together and maintain our social habits and balance in the universe. This knowledge that Aurelius speaks of is quite remarkable because he has so many people that he claims to have learned it from and as such he himself was a prime example of what he spoke of. He was a social being that was dependent upon so many others for his knowledge and wisdom.

Bibliography

Aurelius, Marcus. The Meditations, translated by Jacob Hennigar, Bantam Books, New York, 1945

Hadas, Moses. Essential Works of Stoicism, Bantam Books, New York, 1960

Hadas, Moses. The Essential Works of Stoicism. P. 23

“Ibid.”

“Ibid.” P. 24

Aurelius, Marcus. The Meditations.

“Ibid.”