by Jason Ball
The Modern Marcus
Stoic Meditations for the 21st Century
Jason Ball
Copyright © 2019 by Jason Ball
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design by Deanne Longmore.
Original cover image by Mitchell Griest.
Published by Considered Content – [email protected]
For Kathryn and Rowan who put up with my many less-than-Stoic moments.
Contents
WELCOME TO CRAZY
PUTTING MARCUS TO WORK ON THE BIG ISSUES
1. Five Core Themes
2. You Are Going To Die
3. Live In The Now
4. Too Much Stuff
5. The Surprising Power Of Indifference
6. Zero Degrees Of Separation
THE MEDITATIONS
7. The Second Book
8. The Third Book
9. The Fourth Book
10. The Fifth Book
11. The Sixth Book
12. The Seventh Book
13. The Eighth Book
14. The Ninth Book
15. The Tenth Book
16. The Eleventh Book
17. The Twelfth Book
18. And Now The Credits (Otherwise Known As The First Book)
INDEX OF MAIN THEMES
WELCOME TO CRAZY
(YOU’RE NOT ALONE)
The world today can seem like an insane place. People do strange things, harbour odd motivations, make irrational choices. We get caught up in the stuff of life, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this same stuff is making our lives worse, not better. We act as if we will live forever despite all the evidence to the contrary.
More often than not, we live for any time apart from the one we find ourselves in. We live for the future – when we’ll be rich or successful or famous or meet the person of our dreams. Or we live in the past – if only we hadn’t done that thing, if only we’d taken more chances, if only we’d come up with that devastating comeback to that kid who made fun of us at school.
This contrasts with a 'live for the moment, dance like no one is watching' vibe that, while attractive, is something most people struggle (and fail) to achieve. And when they do achieve it, they tend to focus on trying to maximise surface-level happiness. But this is often at the expense of a longer-term, more sustainable understanding of how to lead a good life.
Of course, we think of these things as particularly modern. It’s obvious that we’re more status-driven than ever. We ‘like’ our ‘friends’ having the time of their lives on Facebook and Instagram. We refresh our social feeds a million times a day to combat the fear of missing out (FOMO). We follow Insta-celebrities and their carefully crafted anything-but-spur-of-the-moment posts. You know, the one about that thing that just happened that was so totally awesome.
But the truth is, these things are not so new. In fact, they would be completely recognisable to people throughout the ages. While our ancestors may not have had social media and smartphones, they almost certainly had all the ambitions and anxieties we have today (often with a more visceral appreciation that life can be brutally short).
Fortunately, some of them had the wisdom to find a way out. They were able to take a step back, to park the emotional attachment to the bigger, better, more, more, more. They were able to find a path to inner peace, self-reliance and genuine compassion for their fellow humans. They found an antidote to everyday crazy.
One such group were those that followed the philosophy of Stoicism. This articulated an approach to life that was centred on reason, fairness, justice, compassion and self-reliance. It was, at heart, a structured approach to flourishing in the face of day-to-day life.
While, today, the term stoic (with a small s) is often used as a description for someone who buries their feelings in a Mr Spock kind of way, the reality is quite different. Core to Stoicism is a deep appreciation for our common humanity and our place in a fundamentally interconnected universe. It emphasises the good of the many over the benefits to a few and stresses our duty to help those around us. But at the same time, it also recognises that, while we can try to help, all we can ever have control over is our individual thoughts (and even that can be a challenge).
Far from a long-dead historical artefact, Stoicism is an approach that has even more relevance today, when we’re all pulled this way and that by the competing demands of family, work and a life lived at the speed of the internet. It’s why more people than ever are turning to this timeless wisdom to give them practical strategies for dealing with the fundamental craziness of modern life.
This pragmatic approach is key to Stoicism’s appeal. Unlike some philosophies that are all about the thinking, Stoicism is fundamentally about the doing. It’s no surprise then that Stoicism provides the foundations for modern effective treatments such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Treatments that refuse to get hung up on all the questions of a tell-me-about-your-mother variety and focus instead on a ‘How can we help fix this right now?’ approach.
But where do you start?
For many, the route in is via one of three philosophers: Seneca, Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius. Between them, these three cover the main ideas and practical applications of Stoic thought. And out of the three, it’s Marcus Aurelius and his ‘Meditations’ that is often the gateway drug.
Marcus wrote the Meditations over a number of years between 170 and 180 AD. In this time, he was engaged in a war against the Germanic tribes and, as you can imagine, probably had his fair share of trials and tribulations.
The Meditations is split into 12 books and would have originally been written in medieval Greek. They were essentially a set of personal notes, not intended to be read by others. In this, they show the process of Marcus getting his head around what it means to live a good life – by which he would have meant an honourable, virtuous and self-reliant one.
Importantly, the original Meditations must be seen in the context of being written by a Roman emperor of immense personal power, though beset on all sides by fractious politicians and an easily angered population that spanned the largest empire the world had ever known to that point.
He would have been keenly aware that job security was in no way a given (27 Roman emperors were assassinated over the lifespan of the empire). Beyond the danger of a knife in the back, these were perilous times where pandemics were rife and would sweep across the empire, killing thousands of people every day. Despite all this, Marcus is named as the last of the five Good Emperors for ruling over an age of peace and prosperity.
We should, of course, not be fooled into thinking of Marcus as some kind of saint (regardless of the impression given by Richard Harris’s portrayal in the film Gladiator). This was a man who ruled with near absolute power over an empire where atrocities such as slavery were the norm. He was fundamentally a product of his time.
But neither should we write him off as a relic of the past. His thinking is, in many ways, surprisingly modern. He is a down-to-earth pragmatist. Ultimately, he has plenty to teach all of us about living life on this crazy, beautiful planet we call home.
Bringing Marcus up to date
Now, if you are expecting this version of the Meditations to be a scholarly work of translation, you’re going to be disappointed. (If you’ve kept your receipt, you should be able to get your money back.)
There are many worthy versions of the Meditations that aim to be an accurate word-for-word translation of Marcus’s thoughts. The problem with these is that, all too o
ften, they replace the Greek (or the Latin translation of the Greek) with a kind of ye olde English full of thee’s and thou’s. As such, they are often pretty dense reading, making you work hard for the essential wisdom to be found inside.
Maybe this is a good thing. There is a theme within Stoicism that praises hard work as a virtue to be admired. But for me, all this achieves is to make Marcus’s insights less accessible to a modern reader. And this, I believe, does the world a terrible injustice.
So this book starts with a different premise: What would Marcus write if he were writing right now?
The Modern Marcus reimagines the Meditations in the world we all live in today – a world of media, technology and state-of-the-art weirdness. It takes Marcus’s thoughts but reframes them in language, context and, often, content.
So, while the original has quotes from obscure Roman plays, I’ve replaced them with comparable ones from modern films. While the original refers to prominent Romans, I refer to famous people from our own age. And while the original is centred on a world where Rome lies at the heart of life, my version reflects a world where the heart is more likely to be technological than geographic.
In doing this, I have made some changes that a purist will hate. In the original Meditations, Marcus refers a number of times to the gods (though he does appear to question their existence on more than one occasion). In this edition, as a man centred on the fundamental importance of reason, I portray him as a more secular figure.
As can be expected of someone writing in the second century, Marcus gets some stuff wrong. He still lives in a world of earth, wind, fire and water. A world of vapours and humours. A world devoid of the theories of gravity, evolution and chaos. (Although he is surprisingly on the ball when it comes to the fact that everything is made of atoms that are recycled by the universe again and again.) To bring him into the 21st century, I have updated some of the science while keeping it at a layperson’s level.
Marcus’s Rome was a male-dominated, slave-owning semi-democracy. If he were writing today, it would be in a thankfully different context (though still more male-dominated than most of us would like). So I’ve dropped the idea of it being fine that people can be owned like livestock.
The final thing I’ve changed is the position of the first book of the original Meditations. While all 12 books are here in their entirety, this version starts with Book 2.
There is a suspicion that Book 1 may have been written at a later date. It reads as a kind of acknowledgements where Marcus thanks his friends and family for making him the man he is. This may be because he thought that others might read the Meditations after his death. So, I have moved this to the back as a kind of appendix.
However, for all these changes, it is important to note that I’ve done everything I can to ensure the core ideas remain true to the original. The meditations in The Modern Marcus are in the same order as you’ll find elsewhere with the same book and chapter numbers. I have, as far as I can, stayed true to Marcus’s essential philosophy and worldview (even in areas where I don’t buy what he says). You may disagree with my interpretation and you are, of course, free to form your own analysis of what Marcus is saying – in fact, I view this as wholly a good thing.
Ultimately, I hope that through reading The Modern Marcus, you will be able to get direct access to Marcus’s thinking and be able to apply it to the world you see around you today.
How to read this book
The Modern Marcus is split into two main parts.
The first explores five core themes that can be found throughout the Meditations. In this section, I look to bring together Marcus’s thinking on issues as diverse as how we can avoid being slaves to modern consumerism and what it means to face the prospect of our ultimate deaths. This is illustrated with excerpts from across the Meditations.
The second part contains the full twelve books of the Meditations themselves, rewritten from a thoroughly modern perspective. Each meditation is numbered in the same way as you’ll find elsewhere, so if you want to get a different perspective from other sources, you’ll find it easy to cross-reference the texts and take a view on whether you think I’ve done the thinking justice.
Of course, there may be a particular issue you’re dealing with – splitting up with a loved one, losing your job, being unfriended on Facebook, etc. If so, turn to the back and you’ll find an index structured by themes, allowing you to go deeper into the thinking on a particular subject.
In terms of how to actually read the book, you’re free to do it any way you like. You can, obviously, work through it in sequence cover to cover (bearing in mind that the original Book 1 is now at the back). The books themselves do not have specific central themes – there isn’t one on death, another on love, another on duty, etc. They are simply a broadly chronological series of Marcus’s thoughts.
Alternatively, you can go the dip-in, dip-out route. Each day, open the book at random, close your eyes, drop your finger on the page and read what’s there. Then apply the thinking to whatever else is on your mind that day. How can that specific meditation help you view things in a new and different light? Does it offer a new perspective on something you’re going through? Does it shake you out of some limiting assumption?
Be patient with this approach. While it may seem that the meditation you pick has absolutely nothing to do with your life and the challenges you face, don’t be too quick to dismiss it and select another. Give it a little time. Meditate on it.
Often, it is these more oblique, more tangential thoughts that can help us get unstuck from where we find ourselves. They open up our intuition. They re-engage our reason. They free us from locked-in thinking.
However you use this book, I hope you find Marcus’s wisdom and perspective a help in your everyday life. The Stoic philosophy is, at its heart, about taking action in the real world. It has been my pleasure and privilege to get to know Marcus Aurelius better through writing this book. I find myself a wiser, calmer, more centred person whenever I spend time in his company. I hope you will too.
PUTTING MARCUS TO WORK ON THE BIG ISSUES
1
Five Core Themes
‘The universe has been around for billions of years. You are a mere speck upon a speck. You are a simple collection of atoms held together in a fleshy bag of fluid. Your perception is, at best, a bit wonky and your mind is often all over the place. Your future is, let’s face it, impossible to predict.’
As with any of us, the thoughts that fill Marcus’s head often return to a number of central ideas – these echo the central foundations within Stoicism itself.
So, as you read through the Meditations, you’ll see him cycle through a number of themes that, together, provide his personal framework for how to live a flourishing life. These ideas are scattered throughout the twelve books and probably reflected the specific problems and challenges he was facing the day he wrote them.
Of course, you and I face many of the same challenges, albeit in a more modern context. We are, after all, human – with all the frailties and biases that have characterised our species for thousands of years. But as modern humans, we tend to be less patient when it comes to getting help. In short, we want it now.
So, while many answers can be found in the individual meditations, I want to take some time to pick up on the big issues and core themes within the books that have resonated with me personally and show how they can be applied in the modern world. I’ll illustrate these with specific passages from the Meditations in The Modern Marcus and talk a little about how modern Stoicism can help in a practical way. In doing so, I hope to give you some practical thinking you can use right now.
2
You Are Going To Die
‘When you decide that whatever is happening right now is all fine and good; when you’re not bothered whether you’ve got lots to do or not very much (as long as it’s all in harmony with reason) – then you won’t care whether your time left on this planet is long or short.’
> Perhaps the most common theme you’ll see in the Meditations centres on the shortness of human life (which another Stoic heavy-hitter, Seneca, writes about extensively).
The point here is that we’re all mortal. Regardless of how long we have left on the planet, we’re all going to die. However it happens, the end result is a certainty.
The Meditations were written towards the end of Marcus’s life, so his own mortality may well have been a more pressing concern than would be the case for a younger man. He died in 180 AD, aged 58. This was respectable for the time he lived in but falls short of what we might call ‘a good innings’.
Regardless of whether he thought of himself as old (he refers to this a couple of times in the original) or felt the shadow of the Grim Reaper sneaking up, he was remarkably unfazed by the prospect.
If we contrast this with our modern world, we see some stark differences.
The reality is, few of us ever see anyone die. Not in real life anyway. What was a natural, everyday event in Marcus’s time is now largely a medical procedure, hidden from most people’s eyes.
Many would see this as a good thing. But to do so is to distance ourselves from one of the most natural events in all humanity. And that distance (and widespread ignorance of how people actually die) breeds an exaggerated fear of death.