A stoic prayer
Marcus Aurelius in five memorable minutes
Logos spermatikos
A little over ten years ago, I lived through a personal crisis that changed my life. I’m not generally an autobiographical writer, so I won’t say any more than that Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations were a light in the dark.
After reading them many times over, I wanted to distil them into something I could recite from memory, once in the morning and once at night.
Little by little, that practice changed the way I engage with the world and, here, I want to share the text with you in case you might find it useful or inspiring, even just as an introduction to stoicism.
Ten years on, I still call Aurelius’s lessons to mind, though I no longer consider myself a stoic. That’s another story, though - you can say if it’s one you want to hear, but let’s not sully Aurelius’s beautiful reflections with a critique of stoicism in general.
The text is essentially a thematically-grouped collage - not exact quotations sentence by sentence, but all Aurelius’s words. The English vocabulary is that of Robin Hard’s translation for Oxford World’s Classics.
Of course, any short summary of the Meditations will emphasise some things and not others. I meant for the paraphrase to be wide-ranging but not exhaustive, so if there are things that are important to you which are absent, share them!
I
I live only in this fleeting moment of time, the rest of my life either already lived or lying in an unknowable future.
The space of my existence is a small thing, lived on a small corner of the earth, where even the most enduring fame is swept into oblivion.
Though the universe is orderly, my substance is a flux, my senses dull, the fabric of my body subject to corruption and my soul full of dream and delusion.
Everything that belongs to me is a stream in flow, my life a brief stay in a foreign land.
II
Let philosophy serve as my escort and guide.
Let it keep my spirit inviolate and superior to pleasure and pain so that I may welcome whatever is allotted to me by fate.
And may it remind me that the person who is blessed by good fortune is the one who assigns a good lot to themselves with a good disposition of the soul, good impulses and good actions.
III
To be so blessed, may I exclude from my thoughts all that is aimless so that, at any moment, I could say what I am thinking with honesty and without hesitation and find my words free of idle curiosity, malice, envy, suspicion, desire, or anything else I would blush to admit, leaving all within me simple and benevolent.
May I further purify myself of the defilements of earthly existence by reflecting upon the stars and examining how all things are transformed from one to another.
And through such study, together with the veneration of my rational faculties, may I elevate my mind and strip away my body so that I may offer myself up without reservation when it is time for my dissolution and for my elements to be taken back into the generative substance of the universe.
IV
But while I live, unless it is for the common good, may I not waste what remains of my life forming impressions of others or wishing to impress upon them, instead making sure that I do nothing at random, nothing that depends on the doings of others, and nothing with false intent or pretence.
And if a person does wrong, may I not work against or be aggrieved by them, but rather instruct them in a kindly manner and consider what similar faults I commit, or otherwise leave wrongdoing to its author so that I am not diverted from paying proper attention to my own ruling centre.
Moreover, may I gladden my heart with images of the virtues that shine forth in those around me so that I may better serve to perfect the social system of which I am a part, never evading its obligations and always doing good for its own sake.
In this, may I remember that I am a limb of the common body formed by all rational beings, which is a special unity that any of us may return to even after we have been severed from it.
V
Yet, may I foremost find the greatest peace and ease of mind by retreating into myself, such that I may be cleansed of my distresses and sent back into the world without discontent.
For though we exist primarily for the sake of one another, each individual has their own ruling centre and independent authority.
It is thus through my own inner renewal that the world is made bearable and I am made bearable to the world.
VI
Then, whenever I must act, may I devote myself in a resolute spirit to the tasks I am set with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity, with love for others, independence and justice.
May all my actions be purposeful, selfless, measured and thoughtful, and undertaken with a cheerful face shown to the world.
And if my activities are hindered by some obstacle, may I accept it with good grace and swiftly redirect my efforts to what is practicable and still accords with my goal.
And if I am not wholly successful in every action, may I neither feel guilt nor lose heart but instead remember how easy it is, at any moment, to repel and wipe away every disturbing or inappropriate thought and recover at once a perfect calm.
