4 more profoundly moving spiritual thoughts from the Stoic, Marcus Aurelius

4 more profoundly moving spiritual thoughts from the Stoic, Marcus Aurelius:

Just to give you an idea of the vast scope and universal appeal of the Stoic philosophy the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius (AD 160-180) espoused, here is a composite of four quotations from his splendid Meditations, which I urge anyone who has an eye and an ear for profound spiritual thought to read.



I have been and am most deeply moved by this profound observation by Marcus Aurelius on the nature of the soul:

The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thought.

How true, how eminently and profoundly true. This single, acute observation goes a very long way in explaining how the extent of both the good and the evil in every one of us tinctures the soul of each one of us.  Where ever the good prevails over the evil in one’s life, and the more the better, the more appealing the colour of one’s soul. We can think of many individuals throughout history whose souls are of a subtle, delightful hue. Persons such as Buddha, Mahatma Ghandi and Jesus come to mind.  Their souls must project an aura of  caerulean blue, aquamarine, teal or the like.  But woe to those such as the Roman emperor, the monster, Caligula, Joseph Stalin and  Adolf Hitler, whose souls (or whatever is left of them, if anything) have been tarred all but pitch black.

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New Testament in Greek & Meditations of Marcus: Aurelius, Meditations: II,4

New Testament in Greek & Meditations of Marcus: Aurelius, Meditations: II,4

Beginning today, and posting every two weeks or so, I shall be quoting alternately from the New Testament and from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius in Greek. Wherever possible I shall also translate sentences and phrases in each citation. This is a very tricky manoeuvre, but at the same time it close to ideally serves me in writing in natural, not tabular, Mycenaean Greek.  The next citation will be drawn from the New Testament in Greek in early January 2017.  

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: II,4



The Greek text is taken from Haines, C.R. ed. & trans. Marcus Aurelius. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1953, with several revisions, the last of which was published in 2003. ISBN 0-674-99064-1. xxxi, 416 pp.

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of peace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in yourf power again.

Translation by Maxwell Staniforth = Marcus Aurelius Meditations. London: the Folio Society, 2002.