Meditations

In the books titled Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, twelve different virtues are brought up and thoroughly described. In fact even a contemporary society could learn valuable lessons from any of the twelve virtues and apply them to present day to fix certain issues. For Aurelius loyalty to the principles of wisdom is the most important virtue. It is the fourth virtue he writes about and it may also be the most impactful virtue he discusses. Aurelius says “mankind are poor, transitory things; one day in life, and the next turned to ashes.” It is this idea and perspective that Aurelius tries to express throughout many of the other virtues he writes about in Meditations. Currently in the United States of America, there is a possibility that the federal government will shutdown. This issue could be resolved if lessons from Aurelius’ books were understood and applied to best solve the problem at hand. By looking deeper into the meaning of Aurelius’s virtues one may find the answer to a lot of issues. Even though there are twelve different sections, there is a central idea that Aurelius tries to express. Man is imperfect and will need to analyze and control his perspective of life in order to become better. According to Aurelius, being aware that “the greater part of what we say and do is unnecessary; and if this were only retrenched we should have more leisure and less disturbance. This applies to our thoughts also, for impertinence of thought leads to unnecessary action.” is crucial to one feeling at peace. Nothing should take away our peace at mind and our ability to grow and become better. The understanding of Aurelius’ message leads into the way it can be applied to contemporary society. With the current threat of the federal government shutting down in America, a possible resolution to the issue can be found. If politicians and representatives were a little more concerned with the overall well being of the people in the country and not so focused on the false