Aurelius, Meditations
Background on Aurelius (Britannica)
Summary
In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius exhorts himself to live a good life and to begin to truly be a human being. It reads somewhat like a diary, with each paragraph or section being a disconnected thought, but with most promoting the same stoic philosophy. He strives to disregard pain, pleasure, fame, and everything else but his internal directing mind. As he says, the directing mind is the only thing he can fully control, so he wants to put it in subjection, not letting external factors sway him from his goal of doing good. In speaking of the good, he talks often of nature and the Whole, and he says that whatever thing benefits the Whole is good and benefits each of the parts. He view death, not as something to be feared, but rather as a natural step on the way of nature and something to be accepted willingly when it comes.