Life Lessons from Marcus Aurelius and "Stoicism"

Life Lessons from Marcus Aurelius and "Stoicism"

By: Mahendra S. Rathore. MBA MA PMP CFP CRPC ChFC 

I am reading how the ancient philosophy of Stoicism and how relevant this is in modern-day life. Dictionary meaning of Stoicism is "The endurance of pain and hardship without displaying feelings and without complaint. "Stoicism" was propounded by Greek philosopher Marcus Aurelius. This utopian philosophy shows how ancient wisdom can guide us in modern life challenges- both personal and work life. Marcus Aurelius can help us overcome adversity and offer time-tested strategies to deal with uncertainties, unforeseen situations, and events. Stoicism teaches us how to respond to daily life challenges and situations. We have control in the way we react to these unplanned, unforeseen situations.

Power of Meditation:

The other meaningful learning from his philosophy is the power of Meditation. By Meditation, we can gain control over thoughts, reactions, and emotions and acquire an innate ability to regulate your mind. Your mind controls the body, thought, action, and behavior. Therefore, the potent weapon in your possession is your mind that you can use to cope up with your habits, emotions, as well as psychosomatic illnesses. By following the Stoicism philosophy, we can learn to distinguish between our choices and responses. What is under your control, and what is beyond control? What you control is your own will power, thoughts, and actions in determining how you respond to those things we confront. 

Generally, we tend to respond to persons, events, and situations with knee-jerk reactions without patience and understanding of the problem and its ramifications. We often use either flattery appreciations or emotionally overcharged to curse and sweat when faced with stoic situations. We unconsciously, unintentionally, make ourselves use our constant steam roller and get worked up about things, situations and respond unthoughtfully and often irrationally for which later we have lots of remorse and regrets.

Stoicism Philosophy

This Stoicism philosophy teaches us to be self-aware, respond with prudence to suffer less mental and emotional damage, and prevent ruining our relationships. Stoicism inspires us to embrace change, treat untoward events without much pain, without resisting or struggling against the event where we have no control. It teaches us to be more rational, secular, and down-to-earth, emotionally resilient, and pragmatic in the way we live our lives.

We live in a chaotic world ridden by anger, hatred, prejudices, biases, and violence. Aurelius teaches us the strategies & techniques of Meditation that can help overcome fear and deal with anger. Following these techniques, we become more calm, empathetic, harmonious, and humane in our relationships. It gives us practical strategies to deal with chronic pain and discomfort, which is the root cause of our imbalanced living & sedentary lifestyles.

Emotional Resilience:

The Utopian truth of this Stoicism is that emotional acceptance is a powerful strategy in coping with the stress of work, working with difficult people, dealing with upsetting or unpleasant feelings, particularly coping with pain and suffering. If we want to suffer less, we need to learn to embrace our pain and live with it without resisting or struggling against it. The Greek philosophy advises us to maintain equanimity, retain our senses, maintain mental balance, not get too euphoric or excited about successes, achievements, nor be depressed, pessimistic and sad in the face of adverse situations, losses, or failures. We must be conscious of both types of feelings- feeling of overjoy and feeling of sadness. 

Aurelius helps us re-evaluate our views on life, death, anxiety, personal responsibility, suffering, and pain. It is precisely for these reasons that people look to Seneca when he says in On Providence: "God himself is beyond suffering evil; you are above it. Despise poverty; no man lives as poor as he was born: despise pain; either it will cease, or you will cease: despise death; it either ends you or takes you elsewhere: despise fortune; I have given her no weapon that can reach the mind."

Because in both situations, we can make bad decisions and act irrationally either when we are incredibly happy or too sad. Marcus wanted us to lead a balanced life to enjoy and cherish life experiences to fulfill our needs, wants, and desires. Sometimes, we are craving to fulfill our desires without thinking about the future consequences of those desires. The Stoicism philosophy prompts us to think about the long-term implications of acting on certain desires and asking ourselves if these desires & wants are reasonable, balanced, and are in our long-term interests. We need to use discriminative faculties to evaluate that these are motivated by sensual pleasures, irrational exuberance, and harmful for our overall achievement of purpose and goal.

Mindfulness: 

In the modern world, people are always searching for instant gratification of desires without much thought about their consequent outcomes and negative impact. The Stoicism philosophy inspires us to elevate our thoughts, use mindfulness, and consciously take a step back from our feelings rather than act on them immediately without much thought or reflection. It advises us to be an observer, think about the big picture, and evaluating whether what we want and seek out is desirable, unhealthy, and damaging for us. It enables us to acquire a healthy balanced body, mind & spirits, restrain ourselves from impulsive habitual actions or behaviors that may not be good for us in the long run. It enables us to be more self-reliant, self-restrained, and master self-confidence and inspire us to adopt time-tested strategies and values that will motivate us to make the right choices, exercise wisdom and make informed decisions respond in thoughtful ways.

Ageless Wisdom:

Stoicism and Marcus Aurelius teach us the techniques and a way of life, inculcate exceptional values and morals, and lead a balanced, harmonious, and fulfilled life. It urges us to do the right things and make decisions that are more purpose-driven, uplifting, fulfilling, and consistent with our core values and reflect our true selves. The Stoicism philosophy encourages us to align our true inner values in harmony with nature and manifest our destiny rather than just following the herd and blindly imitate others and continuously manipulated and brainwashed by others as to what our life should be about. The Aurelius teaches us to have a balance between material wealth and spiritual wealth. Like a bird can fly with two wings, we must have a perfect balance between our material and spiritual life. We should have a stellar character. We should continuously strive to seek wisdom from within, listen to our inner voice, be kind, compassionate, and respectful, and seek to understand before being understood. 

Pearls of Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius.

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."

"A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions."

"Confine yourself to the present."

"Do every act of your life as if it were your last."

"Where a man can live, he can also live well."

"A man's life is what his thoughts make of it."

"Men exist for the sake of one another."

"Your life is what your thoughts make it."