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Book 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Meditations, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Philosophy, The Mind, and Living Well
Relationships and The City
Nature and the Gods
Mortality and Dying Well
Summary
Analysis
1. When a person wakes up in the morning, they will have to deal with all sorts of people, many of them unpleasant. People have unpleasant characters because they’re unable to discern between good and evil. But Marcus knows that he shares a divine nature with all people, even the unpleasant people, and therefore he refuses to be angry at them—it would be unnatural.
The heading of this section of the book is “On the River Gran, Among the Quadi.” The Quadi were a Germanic tribe against whom Rome fought in the Marcomannic Wars, and the River Gran was in what’s now Slovakia—then on Rome’s northern frontiers. Marcus’s first thoughts while encamped with his armies reflect the difficulties of dealing with people. The key, he tells himself, is to remember people’s common nature, and that people are therefore meant to live in harmony.
Themes
2. Marcus tells himself to remember that he’s an old man; he should stop distracting himself with books, refuse to be enslaved by impulses, and not fear the future.
During this last decade of Marcus’s life, he shuns both external and internal distractions. The nearness of death also helps him keep his emotions in check and steady his mind. Though all this sounds demanding, Marcus sees it as a simple prescription for a good, philosophically guided life.
Themes
3. Everything in nature is full of divine Providence. The individual is part of that whole. Whatever the whole does, including every change, is good for all the parts. Remembering this should allow Marcus to reject bitterness and die with gratitude to the gods.
“Providence” is another way of referring to God, specifically the divine power directing all of nature, both as a whole and as interconnected parts. Because Providence ultimately controls everything, Marcus can live and die without anxiety.
Themes
6. Marcus should “concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man” on doing what’s before him. If he does everything as if it’s the last thing he ever does, and refuses to let his emotions engulf his mind, then he can succeed at this. It’s not necessary to do many things in order to live a good life. The gods ask no more than this.
Marcus believes that living as best he can as “a man” and “a Roman” is his ultimate goal in life, and the gods’ primary desire for him, too. Notably, these ordinary identities rank higher for him than being an emperor.
Themes
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7. It’s important to resist both external and internal confusion—distracting things in the outside world, and lack of directing purpose in one’s life.
Marcus’s meditations are often repetitive, a reminder of the book’s purpose as a collection of philosophical exercises: Marcus revisits ideas in order to instill concepts firmly in his mind. One of these key ideas is the importance of keeping an orderly mind and a consistent focus in life.
Themes
8. Nobody has ever suffered because they ignored what was going on in other people’s minds. But if you don’t understand your own mind, Marcus says, you’re sure to be unhappy.
Marcus’s own mind is his biggest focus—failing to understand it, and worrying about others’ instead, is one of the primary sources of distraction and anxiety in life.
Themes
11. If the gods exist, then there’s nothing to be afraid of. They have given humans everything necessary to live well in this life and the next. And even when seemingly harmful things happen, if they don’t harm a person’s character, then they can’t truly hurt them.
Marcus’s Stoic view of the gods’ control gives him confidence in the world’s orderly pattern. An orderly mind goes along with this: it can endure even if outwardly harmful things happen to a person.
Themes
12. All things vanish quickly—including famous people whose opinions count for a lot. We’re given intellectual powers in order to understand this. In a similar way, when we look at dying and break it down logically, we can see that it’s only a necessary, natural process that nobody should be afraid of.
A well-trained mind is able to recognize that life is fleeting and that death, as part of nature, is not something to fear. Stoics believed that breaking things down into their constituent elements was a helpful tool for reminding oneself of these things.
Themes
16. The soul degrades itself in various ways: (i) by being disgruntled at what happens, (ii) by harming another person, (iii) By letting either pleasure or pain overpower it, (iv) by being artificial, or (v) by acting without a goal.
The integrity of the soul, or mind, is paramount. Usually this integrity is disrupted when someone lets themselves be shaken too much by external things or fails to direct their actions purposefully.
Themes
17. Life is brief, changeable, and hard to understand. In light of this, only philosophy can guide a person. Philosophy lets a person keep “the power within” safe—above pleasure or pain, random action, dishonesty, or dependence on anyone else. Philosophy also helps a person accept what happens and accept death cheerfully. A person can accept death when they understand that elements are constantly dissolving and changing into one another—as is only natural.
Philosophy is the key to a life of stability—it helps preserve one’s integrity of mind through all life’s events, and indeed all the way to death. A person prepares for death by looking at it logically—it’s just another instance of life’s constant transformation.
Themes
