The Logos and Marcus Aurelius

I started reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. The introduction as well as the translation of the book is by Gregory Hays. The introduction begins by explaining background information on what the times of the Roman Empire were like. Stoicism and the logos were some of the main philosophies of the roman empire during that time period, so I got a chance to learn and read about what these ideas are. They were very interesting topics and I thought it would be cool to share what I’ve learned about it as well as some quotes from Marcus Aurelius. Enjoy.

What is the Logos?

The world is controlled by an all-pervading force called the logos. It is the energy that exists in the universe that pushes it through the story. In Stoic philosophy, the story has already been written and the logos is what pushes living things to enact the story. The logos is The Word of God, The Truth, fate, etc. All of these terms are talking about the same idea; we are all in this life for a reason. There is a story that has been written and we are the actors in that story. We all have a purpose, and all have a gift that we need to give to the world.

“Nothing natural is evil.” – Marcus Aurelius

The logos is the very essence of natural; it is the most natural thing there is. It is the driving force of life itself. So according to Marcus (and Stoic philosophy), that must mean that the logos is good. Whatever the story is, it is for the greater good. It has to be. This is the same thing as saying you have faith in God; you have faith that no matter what’s happening to you, it is for the better. You might not be able to understand in the moment why it is for the better, but the Stoic philosophy – as well as pretty much every good philosophy and religion – gives you the ability to have faith that it is for the better.

“Something happens to you. Good. It was meant for you by nature, woven into the pattern from the beginning.” – Marcus Aurelius

Living with that kind of faith in your life is essential for your wellbeing and is extremely powerful. Part of being a human is having something to live for, and once you have faith that everything that happens to you is for the better, you become unstoppable in your efforts to achieve your purpose.

“That every event is the right one. Look closely and you’ll see. Not just the right one overall, but right. As if someone had weighed it out with scales” – Marcus Aurelius

Hegemonikon

The logos is interpreted and wielded by our hegemonikon, which is Greek for “that which guides” and also “internal rational ruler”. This is the part of your brain that is your consciousness, and it explains to you what the logos wants you to do. Where do ideas come from? The idea here is that the hegemonikon will interpret the logos and turn that energy into a thought or idea. Something that you can consciously perceive and are able to act on. This is what happens when people say they have a vision, it is there hegemonikon translating the logos into a conscious thought that can be acted upon.

Analogy

In the introduction, Gregory has a great analogy for the logos. He says that the logos is like a wagon, and you are a dog tied to that wagon. The wagon pulls you in whatever direction it is going in. You can try to go the other direction, but it will be painful, and you are going to end up getting dragged by the wagon anyways. It is best to align yourself with the logos (same thing as saying aligning yourself with God).

“All of us are working on the same project. Some consciously with understanding, some without knowing it. So make up your mind who you’ll choose to work with. The force that directs all things will make good use of you regardless. But make sure it is not the job Chrysippus speaks of: the bad line in the play put there for laughs” – Marcus Aurelius

Levels of Logos

I had an original idea about this topic that I thought would be interesting to share. The cells in our body work every day to help us exist. They do not understand what the greater purpose of them working is, they just know that they need to work. The cells involved in the process of moving your hand not only do not understand, but cannot understand, that the work they are doing is to move a hand. You are the God of the cells in your body. They serve you, and they don’t understand – and don’t need to understand – why they need to perform the tasks they do.

I see humans in a very similar light. Our lives are a lot more complex than the cells in our bodies, but we all have a purpose and work that we need to provide for the world. You can imagine the earth as a body, and we are all the cells in the body. We don’t understand what our individual roles have to do with the overall plan and path of the logos, of God, but we do it anyways. We don’t need to understand why either, we just need to have faith that it is all for the better.

“We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural.” – Marcus Aurelius

There are levels to consciousness. Our cells are on a very low level, where they are only doing their small tasks that they do to keep the body functioning. We exist on a higher level of consciousness than this, where we are doing our own tasks. We are serving whatever is above us, whether we realize it or not, and whatever is above us is the collective consciousness of the human race. We are all helping push the race forward one way or another.

Conclusion

I know that this is very wishy-washy religious stuff, but I think that these types of philosophies are great to learn about and having a faith system like this is essential. It keeps you resilient during bad times to know that everything is happening to you for a truly GOOD reason. On top of that, the more you align yourself with the logos, the more you are rewarded in this life. Thanks for reading, have a good one.

Side Note

I like these side note areas that I’ve been doing because it leaves me space to add more personality and reflection to the article versus trying to objectively write about a topic. But as I finished the conclusion, I thought to myself “I can’t believe I’m online telling people to align themselves with God”.  I did not consider myself a religious person at all a couple years ago, but as I’ve learned about some different religions and philosophies, I’ve seen tremendous value in them. Also, I think it’s human nature to have a God in your life. Everyone has some greater good that they are working and living for, and it’s important to have one that’s truly good for you. I’ve found traditional religions and philosophies to be very helpful for that.  

References

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is the inspiration behind this article. Most of what I learned about the logos came from the introduction of this book by Gregory Hays. The introduction lays the landscape of what life was like during the Roman empire and the philosophical ideas and people that were apart of that time. The actual book itself is really cool too. Marcus Aurelius is one of the greatest emperors in history, and this book is his personal journal. He did not release this himself, someone else did once he passed. This book is the personal journal of one of the greatest leaders in history, and it is extremely fascinating seeing what he thought about and had to deal with on a daily basis. The stuff that he was going through relates more than you think it would to what’s happening in modern day America. There are a lot of similarities between the Roman empire and the American empire.