Marcus Aurelius on 'Attaining Goodness'

Dying Every Day

💀 Dying Every Day

The Dying Every Day series delivers guided Stoic meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage, and a journaling prompt to consider. These meditations are designed to help you (and me) reflect on what it means to live a ‘good’ life.

---

If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage—than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control—if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations—it must be an extraordinary thing indeed—and enjoy it to the full. …

It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness—as a rational being and a citizen.

Anything at all: the applause of the crowd, high office, wealth, or self-indulgence. All of them might seem compatible with it—for a while. But suddenly, they control us and sweep us away.

So make your choice straightforwardly and stick to it once and for all. Choose what’s best. […]

+ Adapted from Meditations (3.6)

---

Reflection Exercise

You could say that ‘attaining goodness’ is something we all desire (or at least something we wouldn’t turn down). But the project of ‘attaining goodness’ is not always straightforward. We generally all have habits that get in the way of ‘attaining goodness’ at least consistently.

In meditation titled Discerning the Way, we discuss the notion of creating a philosophy of life. The British philosopher A.C. Grayling explains it this way in Philosophy and Life,

There is a question everyone has to ask and answer — in fact, has to keep on asking and keep on answering. It is, ‘How should I live my life?’ ‘What values shall I live by?’ ‘What sort of person should I be?’ ‘What shall I aim for?’ The great majority of people do not ask this question; they merely answer it unthinkingly by adopting conventional views of life. […]

A philosophy of life is a framework, or you might say, a recipe or guide to ‘attaining goodness.’ The good life is not something that happens by mere chance. It requires intention and diligence; as the Roman poet Horace said, “Life grants nothing to us mortal without hard work.”

Journaling Prompt

Consider reflecting (or journaling) on these question(s): ‘How should I live my life?’; ‘What values shall I live by?’; ‘What sort of person should I be?’; ‘What shall I aim for?’

---

---

Follow Us: Instagram | Youtube

---

—

Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.

Until next time, be wise and be well,

J.W.

P.S. New here? Catch up on previous volumes in the archive!