Meditations by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius 'Be one'
"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."
"The only wealth that you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away."
"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."
"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it."
"Very little is needed for a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature."
"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason that today arm you against the present."
"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
"Do every act of your life as if it were your last."
"We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural."
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Meditations - The Classical Translation by George Long (Reader's Library Classics) Paperback – August 10, 2023
Throughout his life, the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius would write down personal notes ranging from a single sentence to several pages on his observations in his everyday life. These notes, written originally in Greek, would be the basis for how he could improve himself and his stature amongst his peer, and how he would conduct himself in the world. After his death, these notes were collected to form one volume titled Meditations. Separated into twelve chapters, Marcus Aurelius’s famous philosophical work provides a clear insight into the stoic philosophy that was prevalent during the Roman Empire. Presented here is the unmodified 1862 George Long translation published under the original title The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus. This translation was greatly esteemed, for it kept a faithful direct translation of the original Greek text.
George Long: Born November 4th, 1800, in Lancashire, England, George Long was a Cambridge-educated scholar, historian, and linguist of Latin and Greek. He directly contributed to the translations and commentary of works from antiquity previously without scholarly editions, including Cicero's Orations, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and Discourses of Epictetus, among many others. He died in 1879.
Marcus Aurelius: Born in A.D. 121, Marcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor from A.D. 161 to A.D. 180. He is widely recognized as the last of the “Five Good Emperors,” and was the last emperor of the Roman Empire’s “Pax Romana” age, a time of relative peace and stability. Contemporary biographers call Marcus Aurelius “the philosopher” for his book on philosophy titled Meditations. He had 14 descendents, including his successor Commodus. He died in 180 A.D.
• Meditations by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius 'Be one' - TJKCB - ♀ 
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• Admired even by Dr. Hannibal Lecter :-)) - 7grizzly - ♂ (0 bytes) (1 reads) 04/03/2024 16:33:16 (1)
• China PM Wen. So, Bill Clinton, President of USA - TJKCB - ♀
PM Wen Jia-bo loves the book. He asked, Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, "Beside the Bible, I read most of "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations,"
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• Good enough for the Dr., good enough for anyone:-) - 7grizzly - ♂ (0 bytes) (1 reads) 04/03/2024 17:37:38 (1)
• If it is not right, do not do it; - 盈盈一笑间 - ♀ (0 bytes) (3 reads) 04/03/2024 17:32:16 (1)
• But I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do - 盈盈一笑间 - ♀ (0 bytes) (2 reads) 04/03/2024 17:35:04
• I do not do, but what I hate I do. - 盈盈一笑间 - ♀ (0 bytes) (2 reads) 04/03/2024 17:35:27
• As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin - 盈盈一笑间 - ♀ (0 bytes) (2 reads) 04/03/2024 17:36:10
• living in me. Romans 7 - 盈盈一笑间 - ♀ (0 bytes) (2 reads) 04/03/2024 17:37:29
• What triggered you to Romans 7? As it is about... - TJKCB - ♀ (18591 bytes) (0 reads) 04/03/2024 17:53:36
The theme of Romans 7 can be understood as the struggle between the law and sin, and the role of the law in revealing sinfulness. The passage discusses how the law, while holy and good, also exposes human frailty and inability to live up to its standards. It emphasizes the internal conflict between the desire to do good and the persistent presence of sin, ultimately leading to a recognition of the need for redemption through Jesus Christ. The passage highlights the tension between the spiritual desire to follow God's law and the human condition of being enslaved to sin.
Released From the Law, Bound to Christ
7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
The Law and Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
Footnotes
- Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
- Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
- Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
- Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh