Meditations

Everything that he has prayed for, Marcus writes in the first chapter of Book 12, can be his if he can “leave all the past behind, entrust the future to Providence, and direct the present solely to reverence and justice” (115). He should allow neither others nor fear of death to stand in his way. The only thing he should fear is not living “in accordance with nature” (115). As God can strip directing minds of their “material vessels,” so should Marcus train himself to do (115).

His being is composed of “body, breath, and mind” (116). To meet the end of his life “calmly, kindly, and at peace with the god inside [him]” (116), he must separate from his mind everything superfluous—passions, time (past and future), even body and breath. He asks himself whether the virtues that fuel him will fail before his body and breath do. He exhorts himself to do only what is right and speak only what is true. He reminds himself that very soon he “will be nobody and nowhere” (119), to control his thoughts and to remove his judgments.

The length of his life and time of his death are “assigned by nature,” which continually changes “its constituent parts” in order to keep “the whole world ever young and fresh” (119). All is done for the common interest, to benefit the Whole. Death is only the loss of the present moment. Addressing those who question the existence and worship of the gods, Marcus compares believing in them to believing in his own soul: He has seen neither, yet he has experienced their power, is certain of their existence, and holds them in reverence.