In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving each year in November. This is often wrapped up in a mythology of our country’s founding according to which friendly settlers shared food with the natives and invited them to a big party.
Spoiler
alert: It didn’t happen that way.
Nonetheless,
it is good to take time to give thanks.
It leads us to acknowledge good things about life, rather than taking
them for granted. It is also good for
mental health, since being grateful can shift one’s state of mind in a very
positive direction. An attitude of
appreciation brings all kinds of good feelings and makes one ready to spread
them around.
My
students are reading from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations
this week. I chose this text because it
is a major source of our knowledge of Stoicism, as well as providing an amazing
example of a powerful individual practicing humility and reminding himself to
live the values he has accepted. I also
chose for us to read it now because Book I is an exercise in giving
thanks. It is a gratitude-list divided
into 17 sections according to whom Marcus is giving thanks. He begins with his parents and grandparents, then
includes teachers, friends, and finally gives thanks to the gods.
The
Meditations were likely written as a
private diary on a military campaign. Its
author seems not to have intended to publish it. It had no title. It consists of private notes and reminders to
himself. In fact, it was given the title
‘Notes to Himself’ for a while. The text
was preserved by an unknown, fortuitous chain of events.
As
we read, we can witness Marcus trying to improve himself, and we are implicitly
challenged to examine our own lives.
Marcus continuously exhorts himself to live his philosophy of life,
which was profoundly influenced by Stoicism and in particular by the teachings
of the former slave turned Stoic teacher, Epictetus. Marcus thanks his teacher for introducing him
to these ideas:
From
Rusticus I received the impression that my character required improvement and
discipline...and I am indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses
of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out of his own collection.[1]
In
the rest of the Meditations, Marcus reminds
himself of what he believes, who he wishes to be, what he chooses to do, and how
he can improve. He reflects on the
nature of the self. He considers his own
mortality, and the death of his loved ones and the men he most admired, as part
of the Stoic exercise memento mori to
prepare for the inevitable. He reminds
himself continually to be indifferent towards the worthless things we
usually seek such as fame, wealth, lavish living, longer life, and
pleasure. And he reminds himself to
focus inwardly on his rational abilities and to “despise the body.”[2]
Among
the many things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving in 2018, is that the
following hymn to Nature survived the ravages of history:
Everything harmonizes with me,
which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing
for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons
bring, O Nature: from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all
things return. ...[3]
Nearly
all of Stoic philosophy was lost as papyrus burned or decayed, and as
Christianity became a dominant ideological force in the Roman Empire. Marcus lived an austere philosophy of life while
commanding remarkable power. He was
well-respected despite his Stoic values, which were not very popular at the
time.
But
we should remember that history’s heroes have warts. History is the result of selectively
remembering what happened. We remember
Marcus Aurelius through his humble diary, but we also know about the devastation
wreaked by the military campaigns he ordered and oversaw.
No matter what the historical person, Marcus Aurelius, may have done, the author of his Meditations sets an admirable example that challenges us to be mindful of how we can improve our own lives and those around us.
We
can improve our own state of mind, and become better persons, by eschewing the
tendency to be a mindless creature of habit.
We can be more aware, in this very moment, of what is happening inside us and around us. We can better
appreciate our ability to maintain peace of mind. And we can remember to be grateful.
