Chapter Three: Marcus Aurelius

Key Points
The ultimate questions Marcus Aurelius seeks to answer
in the Meditations are: Why are we here? How should
we live our lives? How should we deal with pain and
misfortune?
It may be worthwhile to draw attention to one pattern of
thought that is central to the philosophy of the
Meditations: the doctrine of the three disciplines: the
disciplines of perception, of action, and of the will.

Chapter Three: Marcus Aurelius

The discipline of perception requires that we maintain absolute

objectivity of thought: that we see things dispassionately for what
they are.
The discipline of action relates to our relationship to other people.
All human beings participate in what Marcus calls the logos, the
cosmic intelligence that governs the organization of the universe,
and as such we have a duty to live as nature requires, meaning we
should work with others for the sake of achieving our collective
good. We should treat one another justly and refrain from
selfishness.
The discipline of the will, perhaps the most important of the three,
governs our attitude to things that are not within our control, those
that are done to us. Things outside our control have no ability to
harm us. Acts of nature such as fire, illness or death can harm us
only if we choose to see them as harmful.