Worldview Guide for Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

The Worldview Guide to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is a great little short guide to the Meditations from a Christian perspective. The guide gives a quick summary of the Meditations, and also contains many profound insights, such as these:Self-respect means living above reproach, in a way that is honorable. By doing so, we can know that any disrespect or dishonor we receive is undeserved. A person with self-respect can hear criticism and see how they might improve, while pride causes one to assume he “has it all together” and doesn’t need any improvement. In other words, self-respect drives a person to become better, while pride causes one to think he doesn’t need to be better. Pride also causes a person to look down on others, while self-respect would require treating others honorably. [One reason to “know thyself” is to attain self-respect, which helps one avoid the false, the evil and the ugly]The modern concept of “self-esteem” generally focuses on how we feel about ourselves, sometimes without asking how we should feel about ourselves. Often, talk about self-esteem encourages us to feel good about ourselves no matter what, regardless of whether our lives are honor and good or not. Self-esteem, then, is often motivated by pride. Marcus Aurelius thought that the reason some people do evil things is because of ignorance - they thought that the evil thing was good. One could argue that this is precisely why some people work so hard to call evil, good and good, evil. They need their actions to be seen as acceptable because, perhaps deep down, they do not want to do what is genuinely wrong. [When people do evil deeds, they often need to rationalize that what they are doing is really good in order to maintain their self-respect.]Marcus states that life is hard and full of suffering, but the virtuous man must endure suffering and hardship. For Christians, faith in God gives a reason to endure suffering, strength to endure suffering and hope that suffering will end and life will end in eternal happiness. But Stoics like Marcus Aurelius endure suffering without faith in God, and they have to rely solely on themselves, so Stoics often believe that life is tragic rather than joyful and a great gift. [Stoics found suicide acceptable as a way to escape suffering, but for Christians it is a sin and a terrible mistake.]Marcus Aurelius addresses the need to practice contentment, regardless of whether one’s circumstances are good or bad. Stoicism encourages us to accept what comes to us as an opportunity to do the right thing. For Christians, the strength to be contented in the face of suffering comes from God, whereas Stoics find the strength to endure suffering only in themselves. [God is the ultimate source and foundation of true, eternal happiness.]This book by Dr. Brian Phillips is a great guide to the Meditations and it will supplement the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius with Christian insights.