I've been re-reading, and reflecting upon, one of my favourite books called Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and I thought I'd share a few quotes here and there. Quite conveniently, I took a walk around part of the city where I live recently and decided some of the images I took on that walk may be suitable in accompaniment to the quotes I choose.
"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too." - Marcus Aurelius
Feel free to comment with your thoughts or feelings about the quote above if you're so inclined.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
I need to get a copy of his Meditations. He was a very wise man in many ways. But also troubled in others. Watched a bit about him on a documentary once. His son was a shit show if I recall.
Yep, the son (Commodus) should have been drowned at birth, or had his head dashed on a rock, whichever was easier. Of course, I wasn't there so can only base it on what I read.
I think someone with your experiences would gain a lot of value from the book.
Just ordered it
Many empires have fallen, so some current or future empires will also fall. Entire civilizations were extinguished, so it will be the same in the future.
They say that it is best to learn from the example of others, but somehow a person learns best when he does it on his own example, feels it on his own skin.
But as a person tends to suppress or forget some ugly things from his past, it is quite possible that he will make the same mistake in the future. If something like that happens, if he repeats a mistake from the past, then there are only two possible reasons... Either he likes what he repeated (and got hurt because of it) or is he just stupid?
Making the same mistakes twice happens, but I question the person who does that,; I question how much effort they put into learning from the first time.
The past is a vast collection of life lessons; it is up to us whether we repeat old patterns or choose to take a different path. It is like the sky and its reflection in the water: in that beautiful landscape, the reflection is the present, and the past is the sky. If we do not like what is reflected, then let us change.
I agree, if we evaluate what happened, and what happens in the present also, then the future is often going to be better. It's not always the case of course, but I think failure to learn from the past and present inhibits the future.
Those who do not learn will always make the same mistakes and will never reach their goal.
History has shown no force can remain dominant forever, Roman empire, British empire, the strongest and biggest empires have fallen, I think the next falling will be the US, maybe i won't see it, but I think it will happen, it's virtually invincible as I can only be attacked by Canada or Mexico and not by sea, it has tons of men and resources, but an internal collapse...
I think the next to fall will be humanity itself.
Some humans are like cockroaches, won't even die with a nuke
I'm old enough now to look back over the past and realise that much of it has been fabricated, so I never judge the future by the past!:)
What about your own personal past?
I don't believe that our memories are completely reliable recordings of past events or feelings. We don't so much remember our past as much as reconstruct it and that reconstruction is subject to distortion.
Indeed, but I feel we learn from our past also, it's not all is a reconstruction. I mean, if a person gets burned by putting their hand on a hot stove they're unlikely to do it again based on their past experience. I think a lot of how a human moves forward is based on the past, good or bad. Not every past thing is a distortion, some is cold hard fact.
I think those are two completely different things. Learning not to put your hand on a hot stove is direct experience, or cold hard fact as you said. You don't need to remember it perfectly, analyse it, or interpret it. Learning from history requires us to interpret events and trust the historical record. I know with certainty that fire burns but I don't know why empires rose and fell because all I have is stories written by the victors. My point is not that the past teaches us nothing but rather that the further we move from direct experience and into history, the more reconstruction and interpretation creep in.
Indeed, you're right, and clearly humanity has learned nothing considering it's still on a path to self destruction. I can't wait for it to happen really, maybe a hundred years away I presume, because humans are a plague, a disgusting and filthy malady, upon this planet and unworthy of it.
Of course there's those who believe humanity is on the right track...the deluded.
Well Mr. G, when have you ever known me to be wrong?!:)
I might have to grab a copy of that book at some point. It definitely seems to have some good stuff in it and though I have seen quotes here and there I have never read it.
It's worth a read. Some is incredibly helpful and some not, but it gets people thinking and that's what counts.