Meditate on This

In a perfect world, everyone would read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and apply it to their life. No one would crave fame because fame is fleeting. There would be no need for Oprah or other relationship counselors because everyone would know how to interact with each other. However, we don’t live in a perfect world so all I can do is learn as much as I can and spread the knowledge. While reading Meditations, I became very interested in how he says we should engage with people. Marcus believes that everyone is accountable for themselves, regardless of what someone else does. He says, “There is no one who can prevent you from keeping all that you say and do in accordance with that nature, of which you are a part” (12). Someone cannot keep you from being happy or doing your part in nature. The only person I can worry about and control is myself.

I can only control my own actions, but how do I react when the actions of someone else affect me negatively? Marcus begins Book 2 by stating that we cannot be offended by other people’s actions because we are all the same. He says, “But I have seen that the nature of good is what is right, and the nature of evil what is wrong; and I have reflected that the nature of the offender himself is akin to that of my own” (10). Marcus goes on to say that we are all human: we all have the same mind, so we cannot be harmed by anyone nor can we be angry at another human. To be angry at another person would be “against nature”. If I truly believe that someone is a human like me, I shouldn’t be offended by things she does or says. I should only worry about my actions. Marcus believes that focusing only on your own actions is the way to be at peace. He says on page 26, “What ease of mind you gain from not looking at what your neighbour has said or done or thought, but only at your own actions, to make them just, reverential, imbued with good!” When I am focused on being the best I can be, I don’t have time to worry about what someone else is doing.

I also shouldn’t worry about what people are thinking. Marcus says that when we worry about others, we are not using our time wisely. He says, “Do not waste the remaining part of your life in thoughts about other people, when you are not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common good. Why deprive yourself of the time for some other task?” (17). If I spend my time worrying about what someone else is doing, I am stealing time away from something else. I am wasting time because no matter how much time I spend analyzing what someone has said or done, I will never truly know why they said or did it unless I ask them.

The main point I got from reading Meditations is the only thing I can do is be the best me I can be. If you get nothing else from this article, please remember that you can still care about someone even if you don’t let their actions affect your core virtues; you can only control yourself. Once I control myself, I truly know how to engage and interact with other humans.

Frosted Flakes (and Souls) Are GRRRRRRREAT!

While reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and learning about the eleven different virtues he discusses, I found myself very drawn to the virtue titled the greatness of soul. I look at this virtue almost as a hodge-podge of all the other virtues. Since all of the virtues are said to reside in a person with greatness of soul, he/she is naturally going to be the best and “worthy of great things” (76). Let’s talk about that.

One of the noteworthy characteristics of people with greatness of soul is that they’re naturally good. “He who is truly great souled, therefore, must be good, and what is great in each virtue would seem to belong to the great-souled man. It would in no way be suitable for the great-souled man to flee with arms swinging or to commit injustice [...] And to anyone who thoroughly examines each characteristics, it would appear entirely laughable if the great-souled man were not good” (77). Any truly great-souled person isn't capable of anything but good due to him/her possessing the great of all the virtues.

It would seem that if someone possessed all of the virtues they would be inherently vain, however this is not the case. They judge people justly, although great-souled people do hold a true opinion of themselves, and they will look down on others who pretend to be virtuous (78). It is their strong sense of who they are and what they are capable of that makes people with great souls intimidating. Still, a person with that much self-confidence could be quite refreshing; and there are some good traits that come from that. The great-souled person will not look for admiration. He/she will not accept honor from “people at random, or small honors” because “it is not of these that he is worthy” (77). He/she does not want lip-service from those whom he/she doesn’t know, especially if it isn’t deserved. Great-souled people don't become haughty with the praise they receive because the virtues within them allow them to deal with “the goods of fortune in a suitable manner” (78). So the self-confidence they have comes from within themselves and is not based on others opinion of them (79).

Despite not caring about others’ opinions of him/her, a great-souled person is still willing to help others, though he/she himself/herself is ashamed to receive help. “He is also the sort to benefit others but is ashamed to receive a benefaction; for the former is a mark of one who is superior, the latter of one who is inferior. His disposed to return a benefaction with a greater one, since in this way the person who took the initiative [with the original benefaction] will owe him in addition and will have also fared well thereby” (78). So if you help someone who is great-souled, you will ALWAYS get something in return. Just don’t count on a “thank-you”.

People who have greatness of soul are not inclined to give praise to others because they don’t believe anything is great, but they won’t hold a grudge or speak ill of people, not even their enemies. “The great-souled man is also not given to admiration, since nothing is great to him. But neither is he one to remember evils done him; for it does not belong to a great-souled man to recall things with a grudge, in particular evils done him, but rather to overlook them. He is also not one for personal conversation: he will speak neither about himself nor about another, since he does not care either to be praised himself or for others to be blame” (79). Great-souled people are not about small talk or gossip. I think that’s awesome and more people should be like this.

Great-souled people are an enigma - they don’t want undeserving praise and they certainly don’t dish it out. However, they are honest even to the point of being seen as rude. But I believe it’s just because of their love and pursuit of truth. I guess you either have to love them or hate them.

The Justice League

If you selected this article in the hopes of finding a compelling discussion about the famous DC Comic characters who are in the “The Justice League”, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. However, if your head is spinning from talking about justice, then this is the blog for you! You see, I picture Socrates as a kind of Christopher Columbus in the search for justice: he is searching diligently even if he may not end up where he plans. I am going to be discussing and clarifying the definitions of justice Plato has thus far introduced in The Republic.

The first definition of justice we are introduced to is “speaking the truth and paying your debts”  (8). To me, this is a very cut and dry explanation of justice; it allows no leeway for special circumstances. Socrates gives an example of this kind of circumstance using a man who, while in his right mind, gave his friend arms and then asks for them back when he isn’t in his right mind (8). Who would give their friend something that could possibly harm them? But that’s what this definition of justice calls people to do. So Socrates refines the definition of justice in order to account for special circumstances.

Socrates then says that “Justice is the art which gives good to friends and evil to enemies” (9). It’s the old “eye for an eye” philosophy. As long as you’re my friend, justice decrees that I must do good to you; however, if I consider you my enemy, I may justly give you evil. This makes justice subjective which should not be the case. In a fundamental property like justice, people should be treated the same regardless of any relationships, whether amiable or not.

So if justice isn’t merely action based on the relationship between the two parties, what is it? Socrates, after establishing that justice is good and that the only way to exemplify good is to have a good soul, he says “Justice is the excellence of the soul” (26). What is on the inside will eventually show up on the outside. “You are what you eat”-if you eat a bunch of junk food, your body is going to show it. To me, this definition seems to be the closest to the truth so far. A person must be excellent on the inside to perform good, just, actions.

As Socrates and his company narrows down the true definition for justice, the focus goes from outward to inward. It is after discussing the various components of the State and individuals that Socrates makes this statement: “The just man does not permit the several elements within him to interfere with one another, or any of them to do the work of others,-he sets in order his own inner life, and is his own master and his own law, and at peace with himself; and when he has bound together the three principles within him, which may be compared to the higher, lower, and middle notes of the scale, and the intermediate intervals-when he has bound all these together, and is no longer many, but has become one entirely temperate and perfectly adjusted nature, then he proceeds to act, if he has to act, whether in a matter of property, or in the treatment of the body, or in some affair of politics or private business; always thinking and calling that which preserves and co-operates with this harmonious condition, just and good action, and the knowledge which presides over it, wisdom, and that which at any time impairs this condition, he will call unjust action, and the opinion which presides over it ignorance” (90). To be just, you must have control over yourself. It is after everything within you is in perfect harmony that you can act justly, no matter the situation. Everything is in its place, and it is in this state that you can reason and think clearly. Anything that fits into this state is considered just, while anything that disrupts the system is deemed unjust. Peace within allows for peace outside which decreases the probability of decisions being made that rely on the personal relationships between people. Justice shouldn’t be dependant upon another person, and harmony within allows freedom from that dependency.

I hope that this blog aided in you understanding of Socrates’ discussion of justice with the various philosophers in his company. And I look forward to discussing “The Justice League’s” next adventure with you!