Meditations

Book 9 begins with a discussion of five sins: injustice; lying; the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain; fear of pain; and caring about “pain and pleasure, death and life, fame and obscurity” (84). Universal nature treats these with indifference in that they are neutral, resulting from cause and effect in accordance with the fulfillment of Providence. One who sins does so against himself; similarly, one who does wrong has wronged himself by “making himself morally bad” (85). Loss is a kind of death, but the gods have given men the ability to shape their perception. Rather than praying to save his child, a man should pray to learn not to fear losing him. This reasoning should be applied to any instance in which he is tempted to pray for something out of his control.

Marcus exhorts himself not to hate death since it is part of nature’s will. To help himself look forward to death, he suggests remembering the business and characters he will leave behind, which “will no longer contaminate your soul” (85). Nevertheless, while he is alive, nothing and no one should offend him but be tolerated kindly. If he can show others the better way, then he should do so, but if he is not able to, he should still be kind. Good and bad are not feelings but actions. As he is “a complementary part of a social system,” so should his actions complement the social system (88).

If he were to look into the directing minds of his critics, he would realize they are poor critics of themselves. He exhorts himself “to look at their souls naked” (90). If they believe they can hurt him with blame and gain advantage by praising him, that is a conceit. Rather than be offended at another’s lack of shame, he should remind himself that it is not possible for the world to be free of shameless people. Recognizing that they must exist will inspire him to treat them kindly. Only his own mind can harm or damage him. If someone attempts to harm or damage him, he should blame himself for expecting anything different. If he feels inclined to complain about another’s ingratitude or disloyalty, he should blame himself for having trusted that person. If he has done good, he should take that as the proper action for the common interest and expect nothing more.