Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

So much overlap with some of the other texts we've been reading!  Human nature is the same regardless of where and when the people are from.

natural rhythm
"To work against one another therefore is to oppose Nature, and to be vexed with another or to turn away from him is to tend to antagonism." (10)
This reminds me of Mencius' ideals on maintaining social harmony and going with the universe's natural rhythm.

"Be sober without effort." (28) - wu wei!

one life to live, with purpose
We only have one life to live, it may be brief, it may be long so live it to its fullest.  Live in the present moment.  Live is ephemeral (30). Very much based in materialism like Lucretis.

reason and passion
Our ability to reason distinguishes us from animals.  We use reason to control our passions.  Reason creates virtue.  Passions/desires like wealth, power, material things are fleeting and unimportant.  Self control is key. MA very methodically reasons out that the processes in life like aging, death, etc. are inevitable and so we should accept them instead of fighting or fearing them (very Epicurean (Lucretius)) - mitigating anxiety and fear in life.  Disease, aging, etc. neither good nor evil.  It is just part of the natural rhythm of life.  Celebrates the rhythms of life.

oneness with the universe/duties
We are all interconnected to all humans and the whole universe.  We have social duties to each other and thus we must work with each other.  We must do our assigned duties in life.  Very much like Krishna's counsel.  Perhaps this is MA's way of reconciling all the war that has been going on under his reign. (What of Obama in today's context?)

One consciousness (31) - very much Krishna ("I am in everything").  A very Hindu/Buddhist idea in which the interconnectedness of life is emphasized - perhaps a teaching on why we should respect our environment instead of conquering it.

way of life
Philosophy guides you life but you must have the will (heart - Mencius) to conduct action.  Philosophy as a way of life (a lifelong commitment).  look within when you are not on the right path.  do not worry about what others think, rather observe and correct yourself (through reason).  Must calm, give peace to mind, not body.  Look to positive examples for inspiration (53).

divinity
"And this deity is each man's mind and reason" (41) - like Krishna or the 'Buddha within'.  The concept of divinity in Meditations appears less mystical than that in Hinduism or Buddhism.  I think each concept conveys the same ideas, just in different forms.

materialism
Reasoning must be grounded in empiricism/facts (45) and logic (70). Change is constant and normal (59).

It's interesting that Nixon and Obama were mentioned in class.  Perhaps I am cynical..  While I 'get it' that Aurelius did not seem to be a stereotypical power hungry ruler nor was he born into power. None the less, he was a ruler and he chose a life of the elites.  He chose to defend the Roman empire, to war with other empires seeking to maintain or expand their territories.  Mencius defends a punitive war and this seems to be the case for Aurelius.  As such, Aurelius is seen to be doing his necessary duties to his kingdom yet at the same time, was war/defence really the necessary option?  Did he really have to send thousands of men to die to uphold an empire?  Were other solutions not possible?  Did he contemplate the ethics of him defending territories that were 'won' through expansionist violence?  I am asking rhetorical questions, of course... and I speak from a pacifist point of view.  But I can't help but wonder, did Aurelius really want to be a philosopher but landed in the role of a warring emperor instead?  I get the sense that this may be partially true and his writings may have scribed the way they were so that he would be remembered as a good philosopher rather than as an effective ruler.

The Nature of Things - Lucretius

I confess that I found it difficult to plough through this text despite the amazing beauty in Lucretius' poetry. The very advanced scientific thought is just absolutely astounding.  It was difficult to stay focused as someone whose strength does not lie in philosophy or the sciences...

Steve is right.  In reading the first four weeks of LS 800's texts, the questions we ask as humans haven't changed.  We are still questioning, theorizing the same things about human nature.  It is amazing to think how much we are like the people thousands of years before us.

Lucretius' writing and rationales remind me of many of the ideas atheists, including myself espouse (except that Lucretius' ideas were much more embedded in science) in the sense that it is absurd to think that somehow, we as humans are special and the centre of God's universe, or that God design everything in the universe.  At the time, the honour bestowed onto science and/or Epicurus can be arguable seen as almost religious.  I do not necessarily think that this is the case but it did make me think about the hardcore scientific/Darwinian absolutist atheists who shun all religion and spirituality and to see where Lucretius' ideas stand in all this.

Lucretius' (or Epicurus') ideas of mitigating anxiety in life and the fear of death is very Buddhist to me.  It's a philosophy (rather than religion) that makes great sense to me.  Mitigate suffering/discontent in life. Great advice to give to anyone if you ask me.  it's rather cliché but true - you only have one life to live, so why not live it to its fullest?  His ideas of the cycles of birth, death and decay remind me of Hindu/Buddhist ideas of birth/rebirth/reincarnation.  I see them as parallel ideas, just communicated in different ways.

Lucretius' writing is highly evocative, communicating the beauty of nature and more generally of life well.  He writes about marveling at the stars and skies in Book II - something we did as children but the wonderment seems to fizzle from us as adults.  His sense of wonderment or at the very least his ability to communicate his sense of wonderment reminds me of the heightened self and sensory awareness when one is on psychedelic substances.

Symposium

What is love?  A few different answers are provided in this text.

There is the story of love - seeking love, one's soulmate or other half and an explanation for one's orientation coupled with a fantastic creation myth!

There is the story of love - sexual love or lust.

There is the story of love - guidance to a life of virtue, the importance of the role of a mentor to another.

There is the story of love - framed as the pursuit of happiness and/or abstract knowledge/wisdom (Socrates and Diotima) and as means to achieve immortality.  (1) Physical immortality = you are never the same and you are mortal.  Perpetual procreation by offsprings after offpsrings will ensure that you (your genes) live on forever.  (2) Mental/Spiritual immortality = guidance through mentorship, passing down or "reproducing/giving birth" knowledge to a life of virtue (43-45).  What struck me on page 45 is the similarities to ideas expounded in the Bhagavad Gita on fleeting moments or the ephemeral nature of life.  There is also a quality mentioned that is reminiscent of non-attachment on page 48, in that something or an idea (e.g. beauty) just is.  The slow process in the search for wisdom is also reminiscent of Siddhartha Gautama's slow search eventually leading to enlightenment or Buddhahood.

After class thoughts: The Form of Beauty and more generally, Plato's theory of forms, again reminds me of Buddhist ideas.  When one achieves oneness with one's form (e.g. a dog that is most doglike in its abstraction) is to be the ultimate being, godlike, reaching Budhhahood.

Bhagavad Gita

The dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna revolves around the dilemma of 'to war or not to war' against his kinship.  Krishna counsels Arjuna to perform his duties as a warrior (reflecting the importance of maintaining duties are per assigned roles within the caste system) over his duties over familial ties.

My interpretation of the Gita is that it is a story of how to cope with internal dilemmas, of managing passion and reason, of managing suffering (grief, anxiety, making difficult moral decisions, etc.).  Krishna argues that passion (in this context, Krishna's moral dilemma) is fleeting (33).  To overcome 'passion' through discipline is to achieve inner peace.

"Arjuna, you must learn to endure
fleeting things - they come and go!
When these cannot torment a man,
when suffering and joy are equal
for him and he has courage,
he is fit for immortality." (33)

Without attachment to desire or to fruits of action, one can attain inner peace/transcendence/enlightenment (immortality) (40-41) thus reducing/removing suffering (44-46).

I do not read 'immortality' literally, rather to me, it denotes inner peace.  Longing/desire/attachment causes self-inflicted suffering.  To let go of these attachments is to relieve suffering and also to understand that pain, suffering, happiness and all of life is ephemeral.

Krishna points to the illusion of self (individuality/ego) (47),  and notes the unity or connectedness of all life/nature/creatures (69).

"he sees the self in all creatures
and all creatures in the self.
[...]
I exist in all creatures,
so the disciplined man devoyed to me
grasps the oneness of life;
wherever he is, he is in me. (69)

When one lets go of the self/ego/individual, one affirms the ephemeral nature of life and gains greater respect for our surroundings and the other creatures around us.  I am not "me", rather I am also the water I drink, the air I breathe, the plants I eat, etc.  Everything is interconnected (which is how I read Krishna's statement of "I am in everything").  Krishna's teaching in this text is very Buddhist in its core.

There are various ways to achieve inner peace (e.g. meditation, yoga).

After class thoughts: I do not see reaching inner peace/nirvana so much as a desire, rather it speaks of a continuing process to attain this state of mind.  I do not think it is possible to be in nirvana 24/7.  We are human and we feel anger, pain, happiness, jealousy, etc.  To detach from the emotions that cause us psychic and in turn real physical pain (e.g. heartache), that is to attempt to reach nirvana through meditation, yoga, etc. is a coping mechanism to deal with those painful emotions.

Bhagavad Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War
Translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (2004) Bantham Books.