The Loser King

Despite Marcus Aurelius being classed as one of the great Roman Emperors, a clear-eyed study of his note-book “Meditations” reveals the beautiful loser-esque attitude of this humble, considered, mortal man who happened to be King of the world.

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” - M.A., Meditations

What a loser - no power over outside events?? This isn’t what I have learnt from successive testosterone fuelled motivational freaks! But this so awesome.

MA is considered a stoic philosopher, and it’s easy to think stoic wisdom can only be held by great people, but another way of stating the great man’s thoughts would be to quote the biopic of another (this time fictional) realist, (in the smiley-face yellow t-shirt scene) “Shit happens”. Gump didn’t say it, but the theme of the movie was that stuff occurs whether we like it or not and if we just keep going and don’t take it personally, we can have a beautiful life. Sometimes we CAN make our own shit happen, as MA did when he quelled the Germanians, and as Forrest did when he finally married Jenny, but don’t get hung up on it.

Even Marcus Aurelius dies and its ironic that the great man’s most notable legacy is a wee personal diary he had no intention of sharing with the world and the practical simple advice it gives us 2 millenia later.