as i begin reading the introduction (by gregory hayes) of meditations, one sect of the intro really fascinated me. it was stoicism - its core beliefs and how it functioned in roman society.
there are two identical/very similar concepts within the realm of stoicism - the gods and the logos. in history classes we are usually taught that the romans stole the core principles of the greek gods and gave them a simple rebrand (by name). Zeus to Jupiter, Poseidon to Neptune, etc. But in Roman stoicism (which is also a very radically different adaptation of the original Greek stoicism), practiced by many higher-class romans, the Gods aren't vengeful beings with human forms and interesting personalities. The Gods are the universe. They don't run the universe. They are interchangable. This form of belief can be defined as "pantheism." and it is so interesting.
Beyond all the phsyical matters/ousia themselves, the center of everything we have logos. Logos, to the stoics, is the enforcer of what happens with every matter. and it's not determined by a mind. it's determined by... a program. a logical program. a string of logic that allows something to cause another, leading to everything having a cause and an effect, and that free will is soft and limited, not limitless nor nonexistent. we can do things within the bounds of logos. think physics! today that term would certainly mean - to many scientists - laws of thermodynamics, the strong force, weak force, electromagnetic force, gravity, etc.. and atoms would be the ousia. they are, i think in a modern sense, very closely aligned to a scientific view of the universe and the laws that govern our universe, just under different terminology and the minute level of understanding because of the technological limitations. they couldn't observe atoms, obviously.
every matter is powered by different levels of pneuma (made up of pure air and fire that creates activity and vatality). and the best way to understand it is the force from star wars. in star wars the measurement of the force within each individual is midichlorians. and in both the stoic and star wars understanding, the force/pneuma is within everything. it just varies by levels. inorganic/dead objects have less pneuma, and living beings have more. humans have the most pneuma, and animals, plants, then inanimate objects subsequently have less. it permeates everything. once a living being dies, the pneuma isn't gone but is transferred or transitioned into something else. it's being recycled or being circulated within the bigger system without every actually leaving. this is consistent with our modern understanding of energy. we know energy is never gone nor created, just transitioned into something different. light in fire eventually dissipates into heat that is released into the air, then influenced by wind, etc. it's all very similar.
and it's so fascinating to see that essentially the stoics lived their lives by the code they set up for themselves, as the code is basically the commandments in the bible but derived differently (i have yet to learn the specifics of the code they abide themselves to, as marcus aurelius when he was alive). and that is essentially the official religion of the higher class romans. they blended the roman religious tradition with philosophy to create stoicism. and this almost atheist but actually pantheist belief is very very fascinating. i originally thought that philosophy was just something to argue, with logic, about more ethical and existencial things. but to many romans who chose stocism (which was the most popular sect of philosophy), it was chosen becasue of its practicality in their daily lives. stoicism, at its core, is a set of instructions a person should perform within the bounds of logos (the constant, logical change of space and time) to better their lives.
meditations has already fascinated me before i even started reading marcus' own writing. stoicism, although minutely outdated, is conceptually relevant in terms of its core setups, and im sure many people, after reading meditations, is making it relevant to their daily lives as well!
i plan to at least finish introduction tomorrow and hopefully finish book 1 so i can start book 2.
it’s no doubt that he’s a very capable ruler who was able to manage a destabilizing empire due to the military tensions on both the eastern and northern border, a literal plague, a civil war, a psychopathic son, the death of his adopted brother and wife, and so on and so on. he is of course not perfect but very capable and very intelligent. what i would try to do is to analyze his writing so i can learn the best of him, and avoid the worst of him (selecting an heir for anything, and perhaps more).