I bought his book meditations about 20 years ago and just got around to reading it last month.
I made it to my chapter 3 we're in he says something to the effect of "I have saved all these old scrolls from Greek and Roman philosophers to read in my old age and now that I'm there I know that I never will"
Ironic.
He is known as the last of the good emperors, because he was a bad emperor who swt his insane son up to be the next one
A well-read person I know said that he actually was a bad emperor, in that his attacks on the Germanic tribes are what actually united them and strengthen them.
Stoicism, more than some other philosophies, seems to lend itself towards being coopted for quietism.
That the most often quoted ancient stoic author was Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus makes it hard to ignore this.
"Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours." may well be good advice, but "trust me, who would know better than I, the Emperor, the benefits of staying humble and making your peace with your low position?" makes it ring just a little hollow.
Counter-argument: Serenity Prayer. Stoicism isn’t about giving up.
The Buddha was also a Quietist I guess on metaphysics:
> So, Malunkyaputta, remember what is undeclared by me as undeclared, and what is declared by me as declared… And why are they undeclared by me? Because they are not connected with the goal, are not fundamental to the holy life. They do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding. That’s why they are undeclared by me.
That's right. What a lot of people don't realise is that Marcus wasn't giving you advice to stand down. He was exhorting himself to be a good man, to stop craving more, not to let himself get drawn into excess. He didn't write a book. He performed a regular mental exercise where he reminded himself of the values he wanted to uphold and how he would want to react when such circumstances that he just got through were to reoccur. What you are reading is his personal journal. A notebook. The benefit of Stoicism isn't in reading his notebook, but in doing the same exercise that he put himself through.
If you want to learn from a teacher, read Discources from Epictetus. If you want to hear it from an eccentric uncle, read Seneca. If you want to see a master in the middle of his training, read Marcus Aurelius.
That's a complete mischaracterization of the stoic philosophy. I don't even know where to begin and I don't have the time to write a detailed comment now so I just want to make a few points:
1) That quote comes from his private diary. We don't know if he ever meant to share those ideas to total strangers. If you read it, you'll find that many passages are open to misinterpretation because we lack the historical context and it feels like it was written for an audience of one. He didn't choose the title "meditations", it's just what the translators and scholars used to refer to his collected works.
2) Marcus Aurelius likely didn't write that quote from the luxury of his own palace. Those writings come from his time at the frontlines of the Marcomannic Wars which lasted almost as long as his own reign. The bulk of his writing was probably written in modern Serbia.
3) Many stoic role models are anything but quiet. They die for what they believe in. They understand their own role, accept their fate (amor fati) and pursue it to the end. Cato the Younger died as a political martyr against Caesar.
4) Epictetus is another major figure in stoic philosophy. He was a disabled slave from modern Turkey. He shares many of the viewpoints expressed by the emperor, which is why stoicism is such a compelling philosophy. For something to inspire both the rich and poor, the strong and weak, there must be something to it.
Agree on what? OP didn't even know the bare minimum (who's the author, what did the author write) to speak up on the subject. You're saying that a pebble is "more or less" like a mountain. OP dismissed an entire philosophy with a quip while your sources are telling a more nuanced – and actually different – point of view.
To me, it's his position that makes those words seem more credible. Once you hit the peak and have everything one could dream of you lose your illusions and realize that the craving still goes on and it's much more wise to just count your blessings. If you would hear those words coming from some poor pleb you would doubt that "They just don't know what they're talking about, how could they know? They're poor and don't have anything. Of course money and status and power is the answer?"
Also, I'm not sure if it was intended as advice to anyone other than himself. I was under the impression that Meditations was his private reflections towards the end of his life, not intended for publication.
I made it to my chapter 3 we're in he says something to the effect of "I have saved all these old scrolls from Greek and Roman philosophers to read in my old age and now that I'm there I know that I never will"
Ironic.
He is known as the last of the good emperors, because he was a bad emperor who swt his insane son up to be the next one