Good Morning,
Welcome New Recipients!!
My current read is The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (recommended by the 50 Spiritual Classics series), translated by George Long. Book Three, section 12 of the Meditations had me thinking. Well, most of the book has me thinking, but this one jumped out at me.
“If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping they divine part pure, as if thou shouldest be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with the present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterst, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.”
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus is talking about putting our effort solidly, yet calmly into an endeavor that is before us. It does not have to be important or special, it could be any goal we want to achieve. He goes further to say that if we stay true to ourselves and pursue this goal with vigor and zeal, and do not fixate on our goal, but accept that doing our best is enough to satisfy, that when we achieve our goals, we will feel a sense of pleasure and enjoyment that no one can take from us.
That is a pretty powerful statement.
I have never thought about going after goals with such an honest passion or zeal like Marcus Aurelius writes about above. It is such a pure drive toward a goal, but not a drive filled with prideful ambition.
Some lofty goals are more like dreams and can often seem to be out of our reach, no matter what we do in life. We tend to turn from these dreams from time to time because they seem just too hard to achieve.
Yet, there may be a way.
If we could harness our energies to put our effort like this into what we do, vigorously yet calmly and without distraction or fear, we can reach those goals, no matter how lofty.
Even in such tough times as these, there are those who achieve the seemingly impossible. If this is their recipe for success, then it is here for all of us to use as well.
It is amazing how great wisdom stands for thousands of years and still carries so much, if not more, punch in our lives today.
When we really focus and re-read this teaching before looking at a goal, and ask ourselves if we follow Marcus Aurelius’ guidance, will we succeed?
I am sure we will say yes.
Enjoy!
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