Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (April 12, 2020)
Hello there,
For this week’s exercise, let us look at an excerpt from the last Great Emperor’s own journal. This is from the Meditation IX 5:
“Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.”
As the Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius fought “injustice” and “evil” in war, politics, natural disasters, economics, plagues and even in his own chambers. It’s true, his wife Faustina was rumoured to have had a very active…social life…to the point that some even believe she died by killing herself to avoid the penalty of conspiring with Avidius Cassius – a powerful governor she bedded – to overthrow her husband. As salacious as this story is it is (parts of in its entirety) up for debate. However, other historical evidences that Marcus Aurelius had a tumultuous environment and reality to deal with during his reign.
As a Stoic practitioner, he (as best as he could) tried to combat “injustice” and “evil” (I use quotation marks here as these words are not only subjective but also indifferents for our Stoic purposes). During his time, Marcus Aurelius passed some of the most progressive laws to advance women’s and slave’s rights. It’s true that many emperors who preceded him were nowhere as altruistic as the last great emperor. However, one must consider that Marcus was not the only kind and just emperor, up until his time, either. Perhaps some previous emperors who were just as altruistic and benevolent did not advance the cause of women and slaves simply because they had not thought about it and therefore did not consider it.
You work hard to be a good person and make the world a better place for you, your contemporaries and for posterity. But remember, all evil needs to prevail is for good men to do nothing. So, as a practical exercise this week, find one thing (no matter how small) that you can do to make the world a better place, which you had never considered doing before.
As good as we try to be, we tend to only focus on causes within our immediate concern. I’m sure you can find something new to work towards improving. And when you do, reach out on Twitter or Reddit and let me know what your new cause or goal is. I love hearing your stories, as it inspires me and others along the same journey.
As always, I wish you a wise, tranquil and productive week.
Anderson Silver
(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)