"The true fear should not be death itself, but rather the fear of never truly living" - Marcus Aurelius

 

The book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, an ex Rome Emperator. He ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 CE, and is known for his Stoic teachings and leadership during a period of internal strife. He is famous because of a a book called "Meditations" in which he gives his own unique philosophy.  The first book of Meditations consists of Marcus thanking the people who had a positive influence on his life (normally naming his grandfather and father), with a focus on those who instilled in him traits characteristic of a good Stoic. These include valuing reason above all else, not being absorbed by petty things, limiting passions and desires, sober decision-making followed by firm commitment to the choice made, honesty and never being secretive, cheerfulness in the face of obstacles, and avoiding superstition and the influence of sophistry. The character traits he lists throughout this first book include many examples worth following and paying close attention to. Personally I haven't finish the book yet, but I have still found and understood many things from the book. So far he talks about three main ideas. One: The most important lesson to take away from Meditations is that our minds have great power. Two: People will always do awful (or at least unpleasant) things and we are only responsible our own virtue. And last but not least, Three: The deepest lesson in Meditations relates to our mortality and the shortness of life. The one that I found most interesting is the third idea, as it needs a lot of explanation and meaning to understand. He brings the idea that we all soon be replaced, and that we should not waste our lives being stressed. We should focus on doing good for the others with the unknowable amount of time we have left to live. To make this a part of our lives we must reflect regularly on the fact that we will die. And so we should reflect on all the people that have come before us, what is left of them now, and what will later be left of us. Marcus teaches that our mind is a thing that controls itself completely and is separated from the world; it cannot be affected by events unless it makes itself affected. At the end of the day it is our own self that decides what we do, we don't need to try to control or environment but our mind. In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone that would like to get better, because it gives a lot of information about life and a really good perspective of life. He also talks about other things not just about deep things, and he is some times funny, I recommend it to anyone.