WHAT ROMAN EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS TRULY TAUGHT US ABOUT LIFE

As to what Marcus Aurelius believed about life: I don’t find it a “privilege to be alive.” I rather, accept that, life is privileged to have ME. Aurelius was simply, a man of far too many words, overly expressed in his introspection and knowledge.

Ignorance can in fact, be a beautiful bliss: a child simply being in the moment, where chaos has always existed, just not known as such. Language can then, become at any given moment, a most meaningless intrusion, whether they be formed as quotes, Bibles, literature, commandments, constitutions or creeds. They merely create the identity of what often gives us pain.

And let’s be real: LOVE is a burden to us all. I find it more meaningful to question things, to rebel against the NORMS of control and subjugation, to be indifferent to judgment: whether it be of men, institutions, or even gods - especially, the ridicule of small minded people: to separate from the status quo. And to reason differently, simply, because I can.

Despite what religious or constitutional promises that might exist, joy is relative; and so is “happiness.” I strive for peace, contentment — what does not need either of the first two, to exist. Toward THAT end, the mornings Aurelius so loved to experience, are as the rest of the day: what I make it to be. And whatever THAT is — what acts in resilience — come what may? is everything, not even death can rival. Thus, being “alive” means nothing in itself. It’s arbitrary at best.

Marcus Aurelius, while certainly one I hold in esteem, was simply a man experiencing an Empire that conquered most of the known world during HIS time. WHAT would have been his words, had he been among the conquered? He is only known, because he had resilience, refusing to allow life to dictate the terms of his existence. I would suppose that he just got used to the battle. And in this quiet reflection, grew melancholy, using words to express passing thoughts, as we all tend to do.

SUCH is life. It is the one constant, to which, we can always be assured of.

The truest measurement of our existence, however, is when it all falls apart. This is when we see that life isn’t an “enemy,” “friend,” or “foe,” but merely here to show us who WE truly are!

— S ‘A I F  R. K H Ȃ L I L