Meditations Identity Quotes

Marcus uses his philosophy as a platform to define himself and to learn what type of person he is. In this passage, he also shows the value of being able to really look at the things and people around us—and to find the value in each thing. His choice to focus on "unlovely" things illustrates Marcus's desire to get down to the substance of the things around him, without making value judgments on what he sees. To be able to do this with other people allows him more readily to do this in an assessment of himself.

Marcus makes a philosophical exercise of defining who he is. Note that he doesn't put particular emphasis on his state position; he gives equal billing to his citizenship and to his profession. He's just a regular guy, really, trying to do the right thing in his life until it is time to die. Which, by the way, he will do without ceremony. In this way, the Meditations is a remarkable piece of work. We have the leader of one of the mightiest empires on earth insisting on a generic human identity so that he can stay in harmony with his role as a citizen of the global city.

Marcus sees humans as essentially social creatures who must participate in the life of their communities and of the universe if they is to fulfill their designated roles. To kick against fate, to blame the gods or to separate yourself from other people is to deny your humanity and to turn yourself into something monstrous (like a tumor). It's a denial of rational nature, and it's something that Marcus will later speak of as a sin against both the self and the gods.

Marcus speaks rather coldly of his future dissolution into his component parts. This is the thing that keeps him steady in the contemplation of his mortality and helps him to accept his role in the grand scheme of the universe. While there's no mention of a preservation of self in this scheme, Marcus does not seem too disturbed. There's still a chance that consciousness will be preserved, so to play a role in the renewal of the universe is part of human nature that we shouldn't fear.

Marcus speaks of the mind and soul as closed systems, things that are not necessarily responsive to external concerns. This may sound antisocial, but Marcus points out the necessity of this isolation to the preservation of personal freedom. If you can keep your mind and soul walled off from the hubbub of the outside world, you'll never become dependent on the things of this world (wealth, fame, emotional drama). This will allow you to be more authentically yourself, the being created by the Whole for a specific purpose in the universe.

Marcus is clearly having a struggle with his identity and role in life. He's born to be a leader and live an active life, but he's drawn to a contemplative life of study. This, unfortunately, cannot be. Marcus finds himself in the position that many of us in the modern world understand: how can he balance all the parts of his life and personality? How can he run the Roman Empire and plumb the depths of philosophical truths? Marcus decides that on the most basic level, philosophy is about a life well lived, according to one's principles. He's pretty sure he can swing that, even while fighting off hostile tribes on the frontier.

Marcus is big on following nature, since nature is the thing that defines your mind and your purpose in life. Because we're all given a rational mind, the goal is to live according to the precepts of reason. And the first rule of reason is to live life as a social being, working always for the common good. It's just an inescapable part of human identity, and one that must be accepted if we're is to live life in accordance with the plans of the universe.

Although everyone is given the same spark of divinity (reason), Marcus can't help feeling like the odd man out in his society. Perhaps it's because he's the emperor—that would certainly set him apart. It could also be because he's working hard to live a life according to principles that others don't value, or it could be because others have chosen to ignore their duty to live life in a rational manner. Either way, Marcus is having a hard time sticking to his philosophical regime in a world full of yahoos. He also fears that these fools may begin to change him (not for the better) before he can make it to the end of his life.

Marcus talks about the rational soul here (which overlaps in many ways with the "directing mind") as the thing that gives life and purpose to our motion in the world. It's what we might simply call the soul these days—the vital power in us that we can't see or touch but that may endure separately from the body. It's also the thing that houses our personality—"the man himself"—the part that defines us as individuals. For all his talk about the commonality of human purpose and experience, Marcus is a strong believer in self-definition, without reference to the outside world.

Marcus has spoken before about being a "stranger in a strange land." He especially feels this when he's confronted with things like the transience of human existence. At the very end of this work, he's found the antidote for this feeling of alienation: becoming what the gods intend, by acknowledging what we have in common with them. In this case, it's reason. If Marcus can live his life in accordance with his principles, he will become more himself—more in tune with the true nature of a man.