Here in Maryland, Winter has settled into an uncomfortable cold, windy, and wet weather pattern. Some mornings it is a chore just to get out of bed. Who wants to get up when it is 14 degrees, and the heat pump feels like an air conditioner?
I recently read a strange little book written about 1,800 years ago by Marcus Aurelius—Emporer of the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. The book is titled, Meditations[i], and it basically sat on a shelf for over 1,000 years before people started paying attention to it (sometime around the 13th century.) In the 21rst century, Meditations is considered one of the world’s top 100 books ever written. That’s strange since Marcus Aurelius did not wish for it to be published, and in fact, he left instructions for it to be destroyed upon his death. It is not a page-turner for sure—but it is a life-changer.
Anyway, dragging myself out of bed on these winter days reminds me of one of the little discourses Marcus wrote about in Section 5, paragraph 1 on that very subject.
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?
–But it’s nicer in here. . .
So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?
–But we have to sleep sometime. . .
Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.
You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.
Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?
Can you imagine Marcus writing this little note 1,800 years ago (on a papyrus scroll no less) to remind himself that, yes, while he is the boss (there was no man more powerful in the world during that time), he still had a job to do and, he needed to get after it?
Thanks for reading. We’ll get into more financial stuff in the following newsletter—but I thought this one might put a little pep in your step on these cold mornings. Have a great week, and please give us a call if you want to go over any of your new calendar-year plans. MK
[i] Meditations / Marcus Aurelius; translated, and with an introduction, by Gregory Hays ISBN 0-679-64260-9 2002 Modern Library Edition
