Week 1 · western

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world, and he kept a secret journal begging himself to be a better person. Meditations was never meant to be published. It was basically a Roman emperor's therapy notebook, scribbled in a freezing military tent while a plague killed millions around him. That's why it still hits 2,000 years later.

“"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." He wrote that during a war, in the middle of a plague, having buried multiple children. His life didn't make it easy to always choose gratitude. He was just a man in the dark, striking a match every single morning.”