Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Key Ideas, Context and Critiques

Meditations is the name later readers gave to private notes the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself, in Greek, in the 170s CE. They are short reminders about meeting pressure, difficult people, loss and death with reason and decency, written by a man running an empire at war.

This guide covers who Marcus was, the book's central Stoic ideas, its documented link to cognitive therapy, fair criticisms, and who may want to read it with support.

Who Was Marcus Aurelius?

Marcus Aurelius was born in 121 CE and died in 180 CE (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). The emperor Antoninus Pius adopted him in 138 CE. Marcus became emperor in 161 CE, at first alongside Lucius Verus, and ruled alone from 169 CE (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

His reign was hard. World History Encyclopedia describes a war with Parthia from 161 to 166 CE, a plague brought back by returning troops, and fighting against invaders on the Danube frontier from 167 CE. Marcus died in winter quarters on that frontier in 180 CE and was succeeded by his son Commodus (World History Encyclopedia, 2018).

What Is Meditations About?

It is not a treatise. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that the manuscript title, ta eis heauton, translates as "to himself", that Marcus wrote the notes for himself rather than for readers, and that the entries follow no apparent order. It says the notes were probably written while he was on campaign in central Europe, and gives 1558 as the date of the first printed edition.

Two short notes may record where parts were written. In George Long's translation, Book 1 ends with a note placing the writer among the Quadi at the Granua, and Book 2 with a note that it was written at Carnuntum, which Long locates in Pannonia on the Danube (Marcus Aurelius, trans. George Long, Project Gutenberg). Section numbers can vary between editions; this guide uses Long's.

There are twelve books. Book 1 records what Marcus learned from family and teachers; the Stanford Encyclopedia names Stoic teachers including Rusticus, Apollonius and Sextus, and notes that Marcus singles out the writings of Epictetus for mention. Books 2 to 12 are unordered notes that circle back to the same themes: where distress comes from, how to deal with difficult people, what a person's work is, how small one life is, and how to live knowing you will die.

What Are the Key Ideas in Meditations?

Distress comes from judgements, not events

Marcus returns more than once to one claim: an outside event is not what disturbs us; our opinion about it is (4.3). Book 8, section 47 puts it plainly: if something external pains you, "it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it" (Meditations, Book 8, section 47, trans. George Long, 1862). He adds that it is in his power to wipe that judgement out.

This does not make pain imaginary. It says an interpretation sits between an event and the distress, and that interpretation can be examined. The related line about people being disturbed by their views of things, rather than by things themselves, belongs to Epictetus (Enchiridion, section 5), not to Marcus.

What is up to you, and what is not

The dichotomy of control runs through Marcus's notes, but its clearest statement is in Epictetus. The first section of the Enchiridion (trans. Higginson, Project Gutenberg) separates what is within our power (opinion, aim, desire, aversion) from what is not (body, property, reputation, office). Marcus does not set this out as a list, but the same distinction shapes his notes: his own judgements and choices are his to work on; other people's conduct and his reputation are not.

Difficult people

Book 2 opens with a morning reminder that he will meet busybodies and people who are ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious and unsocial. His answer is not to harden himself. He reasons that they act from ignorance of good and bad, that the wrongdoer is his kin, that nobody else can make his own character ugly, and that people are made to work together, like hands and feet, so anger and turning away run against nature (2.1).

Duty, reason and the good of the whole

In Book 5, section 1, Marcus talks himself out of bed on a reluctant morning by remembering that he is rising to do the work of a human being. In Book 6, section 54, he puts his social ethics into one image: what is bad for the swarm cannot be good for the bee. The Stanford Encyclopedia describes an ethic of living according to nature, treating virtue as the only true good and acting justly toward others, set within a picture of the cosmos in which Marcus weighs providence against atoms and accepts fate. The book is partly religious and cosmological, not only a set of coping tips.

Impermanence and the view from above

Marcus reminds himself that everything he sees is already changing and passing, fame included, and pictures the whole earth as a single point (4.3). In Book 7, section 48, he credits Plato with the idea of viewing human life as if from a higher place, and in Book 9, section 30, he tells himself to look down on the vast crowds of humanity with their ceremonies, voyages, births and deaths. In context, the aim is to shrink worries about status and praise to their actual size, not to make life feel pointless.

Remembering death

The idea later summed up as memento mori, remember that you will die, runs through the notes. In Book 4, section 17, he warns himself not to act as though he had ten thousand years ahead of him, and urges himself to be good while it is still in his power. The point is urgency, not gloom: do the decent thing now instead of putting it off.

What Does the Research Say About Stoicism and Therapy?

There is a documented historical link. A 2023 review in Neurological Sciences reports that Aaron Beck and colleagues, in their 1979 manual on cognitive therapy for depression, named Stoic philosophers, including Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, as forerunners of cognitive therapy. The review notes that Albert Ellis, who developed rational emotive behaviour therapy, quoted Epictetus's principle about views of things, and later claimed credit for reviving interest in Epictetus in the 1950s. It also compares the Meditations to the written reflections some people keep in therapy (Cavanna and colleagues, Neurological Sciences, 2023).

A 2022 pre-registered study with samples in New Zealand, Norway and the United States measured a naive version of Stoic ideology and found it was associated with lower well-being, with the clearest links for not wanting to express emotions and wanting to feel less. The authors describe that ideology as a misunderstanding of Stoic philosophy, and the design is correlational, so it cannot show cause (Karl and colleagues, Journal of Happiness Studies, 2022). The psychotherapist Donald Robertson, who is trained in CBT, makes a related argument in TIME: Marcus looked for other ways of thinking about frustrating events and people, so that excessive emotions could give way to more proportionate ones, rather than suppressing feelings (Robertson, TIME, 2024).

Two cautions. The link between Stoicism and CBT is historical and conceptual; it is not evidence that reading Stoic philosophy treats anxiety or depression. And reading the Meditations is not CBT, which is a structured therapy with its own research base.

What Are the Criticisms of Meditations?

• →It can be misread as suppression. A reader who already pushes feelings down can take the lines about judgement as permission to keep doing so, which is close to the naive reading the 2022 study linked with lower well-being.
• →Tough-guy readings. In the same TIME piece, Robertson criticises Andrew Tate for telling young men to channel anger into activities such as working out, instead of examining the beliefs behind it (Robertson, TIME, 2024).
• →He wrote from absolute power. Marcus spent much of his reign at war, and a reader may find his reflections on justice and kinship hard to square with that position.
• →Christians were persecuted during his reign. In the introduction to his 1862 translation, George Long describes Christians put to death at Lyon in 177 CE, known from a letter preserved by Eusebius, and concludes that rulings issued under Marcus served as a legal basis for the persecutions. World History Encyclopedia disagrees, saying scholars increasingly doubt he decreed them and that regional governors appear to have driven them. The Meditations names Christians once (11.3), contrasting what Marcus calls their mere obstinacy with a considered readiness for death.
• →It is hard going. The notes were never edited for readers, so they repeat themselves, and Long's Victorian English is full of thee and thou.

Who Is Meditations For, and Who Should Read It With Support?

It may suit readers drawn to philosophy, meaning or mortality, people in demanding roles looking for a steadier way to think about pressure and criticism, and anyone curious about the ideas that fed into cognitive therapy. Readers drawn to questions of meaning in hardship may also want our guide to Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. For a spiritual rather than philosophical take on attention to the present, our guide to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle looks at Tolle's ideas on presence and acceptance, along with the research and critiques.

It may be worth reading alongside professional support if:

• →You are grieving, and reminders about death land as pressure rather than perspective.
• →You already shut feelings down and could read the book as a reason to keep going that way.
• →You have lived through trauma, where hearing that distress comes from your judgement can feel dismissive of what actually happened.
• →Your mood is low and the view from above starts sliding into a sense that nothing matters.
• →Worry about what you cannot control has grown past what a change of perspective can reach.

How Do the Ideas in Meditations Relate to Therapy?

Marcus's themes overlap with what people bring to counselling: worry about outcomes they cannot control, anger at others, purpose after a loss or change, and fear of death. A book offers ideas; therapy offers time with a trained clinician to look at which thoughts may be feeding distress, check them against what happens, and explore what sits underneath.

TEO Counselling does not offer Stoic therapy or philosophical counselling; the closest overlap is with cognitive behavioural therapy. Alison Shaji, MA, RCC #22608 (BCACC), is trained in CBT, DBT, EMDR, EFFT and the Gottman Method (Levels 1 and 2), and works with clients in British Columbia only, in English, Hindi or Malayalam. Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). He is trained in CBT for Trauma (Levels 1 and 2), DBT, Internal Family Systems (Levels 1 and 2) and the Gottman Method (Levels 1 and 2), has Advanced EMDR training through an EMDRIA-approved programme, and works with clients in all six provinces in English or Arabic.

Depending on what you bring, sessions can look at anxiety about what you cannot control, adjusting to a life transition, grief, or questions of faith, meaning and values. You are welcome to bring a book you have been reading into that conversation.

Is Meditations Worth Reading?

For a direct look at one person trying to live by his principles under real pressure, it is worth reading, with the caveats above. It is not a self-help programme, and it can be read a section at a time.

George Long's 1862 translation is in the public domain and free on Project Gutenberg, though its English is old-fashioned. Modern translations, such as Gregory Hays's (Modern Library, 2002), are available through libraries and bookstores. For more on Stoicism and cognitive therapy, Donald Robertson has written The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.

TEO Counselling is an online-only practice for clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Individual sessions are $150 for 60 minutes, and no referral is needed (see fees). The first step is a free 15-minute consultation by video or a scheduled phone call, booked online. Book a free consultation, or text (519) 760-5211 with a question first.