book summary: pithy insights from ‘meditations’ [1/3]

• Logos, which roughly translates to reason, is considered as an essence that gives form and divine order to all the forms of life and the Universe. It reflects that all things happen for a reason.
• The concept of logos encourages us to see a silver lining even when we are in the midst of chaos and storms of adversities.
• Human emotions, especially negative ones, can be a serious threat to reason. So, in your daily life, if you feel stressed or overwhelmed, then the best strategy is to meditate on logos and the grand scheme of things.
• There’s no point in us being afraid of death since all beings, living or dead, are still part of logos. Dying is simply our soul (a part of logos) leaving a human body that began dying the instant it was born. And when a person dies, even though their body perishes, they once again become part of the greater logos.
• We can use death as a motivator to be good and do good. Since we never truly know how much time we have left to live, we can employ our precious resources for the common good.
• We must understand that everyone dies sooner or later, and even the best people out there perish in the end. As difficult as it may be, it’s wise to think of all the people that have come before us, what is left of them now, and what will be left of us later on.
• Complaining is futile and a big waste of time. Letting ourselves be annoyed by external factors just robs us of our precious time and energy that could be spent living.
• Marcus, like other Stoics, firmly believed that a calm and analytical mind always trumps the one ruled by desires and emotions, and our reason could be used to understand the workings of logos as it governs everything through reason and order.
• The essence of any event depends on how we perceive it. So, if we cultivate the belief that logos has good reasons for everything that occurs, we can see any event objectively and think of it as necessary for the greater good.
• Marcus constantly reflected on the notion that our mind is a separate entity from the world, and it simply cannot be affected by external events unless it deliberately chooses to get affected.
• We can think of the challenges that come our way as opportunities to shine and prove our mettle, to grow as a person, to learn how to cultivate endurance, patience, and grit, and to be more creative and resourceful.
• Like Marcus, we too can condition ourselves to look at the impediment to action being an advancement to action. The obstacle in the path can become the path.

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