Thoughts on the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

PUBLISHED BY THE FRUGAL CHARIOT

We, however must escape to freedom. But this is only possible if we are indifferent to Fortune. Then we shall attain that one overriding blessing -- the serenity and exaltation of a firmly anchored mind. For when error is banished, we shall have the great and satisfying joy that comes from the discovery of truth, plus a kind disposition and cheerfulness of mind.

- Seneca, On the Happy Life, IV.

Marcus Aurelius emphasizes several themes in his notes on life known as the Meditations.

Among them are the tenets that underlie the stoic philosophy that he learned from his teachers including a discussion of the importance of your duty both to your own nature and that of the whole universe. It is with these tenets in mind that we see him telling us to accept what is beyond our control (5.8) in his expression of the notion that freedom for man is possible only when he is indifferent to the his fate as decreed by nature. His view expresses this in the sense that the we are all a part of the whole of nature and recognition of that is necessary to achieve the good. The good which is always the moral good.

The importance of this is seldom clearer than when Aurelius notes the importance of focusing on the present, the "task at hand" if you will by exercising dispassionate justice in the following way:

"Vacating your mind from all its other thoughts. And you will achieve this vacation if you perform each action as if it were the last of your life: freed, that is, from all lack of aim, from all passion-led deviation from the ordinance of reason, from pretence, from love of self, from dissatisfaction with what fate has dealt you." (2.5)

It is acting like this, not in any morbid sense, but with a cheerfulness of mind, as described in the quote from Seneca above, that you will achieve the tranquility of being that is the ultimate form of happiness.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, trans. by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, New York. 2006

A FEW MORE THOUGHTS:

The second half of 2009 and 2010 thus far have been quite surreal !! Someday I look forward to getting back to the production of video's and all that accompany that! I must say that was quite an intense period of trading and personal development. Looking back on the last few years from my current vantage point is quite revealing. Currently I have the opportunity to work on applied psychology in a manner Dr. Steenbarger would be proud. He spoke about real life situations and the wonderful benefits that could be derived from the conscientious application of brief therapy goals within a very specific target range. My life has given me that opportunity outside the venue of trading. During the tenure of this current exercise, impressing on me the value of such activity, not only applied to trading, rather in rewiring cognitive pathways regarding traits such as "lack of patience" and "lack of Discipline". I will expound sometime how this opportunity to work on these traits arose, for now though: On the few occasions that I watch the market since I have been away, the approach and a greater sense of balance in life and the strategy to employ that balance, seem to be clearer now than ever before, as I feel that I have an ability or quality that I didn't display before regardless of the timeframe that I was trading. We will see soon if this is imagined or real, when I get back to trading. Life is bizarre.

A FEW MORE THOUGHTS:

A POEM THAT CAME TO MIND UPON AWAKING ON OCTOBER 28TH 2010

THAT I PUT TO PAPER.

"Tears in my ear

light up my life

They choose to fear

folks live in strife

My eyes are clear

this darken night"