Author Topic: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion  (Read 6083 times)

arebelspy

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This thread is for discussion of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius; the MMM Book Club's February 2013 book.

In addition to almost every public library in the nation, Meditations can be found free online in both HTML Form, to read online in your browser and eBook form, to download and read on your eBook reader of choice.

I figured this would be a fun, easy one, because it has so many quotable lines. This text file of the whole book may be useful for searching through (control+f) to easily copy/paste your favorite quotes over to here.

Feel free to share your favorite quotes from Meditations!
« Last Edit: February 01, 2013, 08:28:03 AM by arebelspy »
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arebelspy

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2013, 08:35:27 AM »
I came over to unlock this thread, clicked on the links, and got sucked into reading different snippets for a half hour!

I was having fun doing searches for things like "truth," "virtue," "justice," etc. and reading the corresponding thoughts.

Here's two quotes I enjoyed while reading:
Quote
Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind.

Quote
If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.
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twinge

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2013, 12:12:40 PM »
No snippets, but I was struck by the construct of "learn."  He always focused on who he learned something from (grandfather, father, mother, Governor,Diognetus, Rusticus, Appollonius...), connecting the informal daily life learning from family with intellectual learning--always personalizing and individualizing the sources of knowledge.  This seems so different from the construct of formal learning in the U.S. at least  where we focus on accrued content/concepts divorced from individuals (though we still use it to discuss things we learned from our family).  To be sure, scholars attribute sources, thus focusing on the source of individual contributions.
Also I notice he never expresses any theory of HOW he learned these things, just who from.

Haven't thought much about what I think the implications of this pattern are, just noting it...

grantmeaname

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2013, 10:35:23 AM »
Meditations is an awfully serene thread...

(Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) How's everyone finding it? Is it worth adding to my list of books to tackle when I again have reading time?

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2013, 03:04:21 PM »
Personally, I thought it was a difficult read, with the language and sentence structure.

arebelspy

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2013, 04:06:25 PM »
This is a quote I like quite a bit often attributed to Meditations.  It's paraphrased and shortened from a longer part, but is often quoted thusly:
Quote
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
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grantmeaname

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2013, 07:16:45 PM »
Huh, I've never heard that... it's sort of the anti-Pascal's wager.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2013, 08:03:27 PM »
Yea, that's pretty much how I think about religion and life. 

arebelspy

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2013, 08:09:35 PM »
Huh, I've never heard that... it's sort of the anti-Pascal's wager.

Yes, it is quite akin to the Athiest's Wager
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Gubmints

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2013, 10:16:27 AM »
This thread is for discussion of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius; the MMM Book Club's February 2013 book.

In addition to almost every public library in the nation, Meditations can be found free online in both HTML Form, to read online in your browser and eBook form, to download and read on your eBook reader of choice.

I figured this would be a fun, easy one, because it has so many quotable lines. This text file of the whole book may be useful for searching through (control+f) to easily copy/paste your favorite quotes over to here.

Feel free to share your favorite quotes from Meditations!

I have fallen asleep numerous times reading Meditations, but I find myself going back to Epictetus' Enchiridion time and again.

arebelspy

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Re: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Feb 2013 MMM Book Club Discussion
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2013, 11:38:38 AM »
I have fallen asleep numerous times reading Meditations, but I find myself going back to Epictetus' Enchiridion time and again.

That is a great one.  Definitely much easier reading.

Link for those interested: http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

 

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