You are NOT your body
Meditation 2.2
This is my interpretation and rephrasing of Meditation 2.2.
This thing that I am encased within is flesh, a bit of breath and the inner God. Forget your books, stop letting yourself be distracted. Instead, as if you could die at any moment, you should disregard flesh as well. It is nothing more than blood, bones, a hideous mess of nerves, arteries and veins. Breath, greedily gulped in one place and mindlessly discharged in another. Now, most importantly, the inner God. Think of it like this. You could die at any moment. Stop allowing your inner divinity to be enslaved. Put an end to being manipulated like an automaton at the prompting of vice put an end to rejecting fate, complaining about the present and mistrusting the future.
Marcus is reminding himself of what actually makes up who he is, not flesh or the air that he breathes, but the inner God, or divinity, as mentioned in meditation, 2.1. To Marcus the inner God represents the highest divine, rational part of his consciousness, which is responsible for all mental processes. The Stoics believe that the inner divinity that is exclusive to humans is an offshoot of the rational mind of God, Fate, destiny, nature or Zeus. When Marcus wrote this passage, he was likely out on the war campaign and probably missing his library. It was a source of comfort and knowledge for him, he was able to use his situation as a way to become an even better philosopher by not allowing himself to be distracted by reading about virtue, but by actually applying virtue in his daily life. It's so tempting to read and learn all we can about this wonderful philosophy, but we need to realize that knowledge without application won't help us. Do you find yourself watching videos, listening to podcasts or reading endless books and newsletters without applying what you've learned? The temptation of busying oneself with knowledge is just as prominent today as it was with Marcus Aurelius, almost 2000 years ago.
Marcus likely viewed his body as a source of pain and discomfort and/or a vessel that tempted him with pleasures and vice. It's natural to let pain and discomfort affect our moods as it is, either chronic or very sharp and acute. The Stoics had a lot to say about pain management, which I will get into in another newsletter. It's even easier to let your body lead you into temptations of pleasure and vice. How easy is it to indulge in that extra donut or to lust after someone? These, of course, are forms of vice and go against our nature as rational offshoots of God, Fate, destiny, nature or Zeus. When Marcus reminds himself that he could die at any moment, is a cue to live in the present and to use that present moment as an opportunity to develop and express virtue. What I love about this passage is that we have the richest, most powerful man on Earth who is writing to himself for himself, that he needs to improve. Marcus could literally do anything he wanted with nobody to stop him. He had supreme power. Marcus might be the only case where absolute power did not absolutely corrupt. This doesn't mean that Marcus was perfect. We see that he writes about being mentally manipulated like a puppet or automaton. He was just as prone to desire and vice as us, but relied on his Stoic philosophy to help him live in accordance with his values. Stoicism truly can be thought of as a philosophy of life. It can be applied and used in all situations. Stoicism can help you if you're the most powerful man on earth, and it can help you if you're just an average person looking for serenity, social utility and purposefulness in your life. This last line put an end to rejecting fate, complaining about the present and mistrusting the future completely encompasses the concept of Amor Fati, or love of fate. It asks us to go beyond simply accepting what happens to us, which is hard enough without philosophy, but that we should even love whatever happens to us, to love our fate seems like a potentially cruel concept. How are we supposed to love when “bad” things happen to us? How can we reasonably expect to love when we get injured, lose our source of income, a friend is cruel to us, or any other number of traditionally bad things that could happen to us? It comes down to understanding how the Stoics view fate or destiny, which I will talk about in a future Newsletter. For now, I leave you with this quote from Chrysippus:
When a dog is tied to a cart if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making a spontaneous act coincide with necessity, but if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled. In any case, so it is with men too. Even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.