Marcus Aurelius: Thinking Clearly
At age 17, Marcus Aurelius was adopted. It
made him the heir to the throne of Rome.
Born into a wealthy family, Aurelius was
primarily raised in the household of his grandfather. Both his parents passed away
relatively early in his life, and he grew up an orphan.
Even at an early age, his defining
characteristic was his pursuit of knowledge. He was drawn to philosophy, and he
was particularly interested in Stoicism – a subset based on the notion that
behaviors, not thoughts or words, should define virtue.
According to legend, the old Emperor Hadrian
took notice of him after a brush with death, and impressed with a young
Aurelius, Hadrian adopted him into his line of succession.
Aurelius upheld his duty to the state for
over 20 years, through the death of Hadrian and throughout the rule of
Antoninus Pius, until the day he became the Emperor of Rome.
There’s much uncertainty regarding the
details of Marcus Aurelius’ story. It’s almost 2,000 years old, and most
sources are questionable at best. The clearest image of the man is painted
through a series of notes he wrote to himself, known by the name of Meditations.
Meditations is one the most influential works of
Stoicism. There isn’t much left to be said about it that hasn’t been said
before. It’s a timeless manual for living a balanced life.
More than a philosophy, however, it also
gives us insight into the clarity with which Marcus Aurelius thought. He very
much saw the world as it was rather than as he hoped it would be. That may not
sound like an accomplishment, but it’s rarer than most of us would like to
think.
The application of this kind of awareness
pays dividends in every aspect of life, and we can dissect Aurelius’ story to
break down how it can be deliberately nurtured by:
• Actively training ourselves to fight the
autonomous loop
• Harnessing objectivity through a different
host of eyes
• Routinely seeking out ways to declutter the
mind
Today, Aurelius is remembered as a revered
leader. His clarity of mind is a big reason why.
Actively Train Yourself to Fight the Autonomous Loop
Every day, we’re loaded with external
stimuli, and if we were to absorb each one of these stimuli, we wouldn’t be
able to function properly. It would overwhelm our brain, and we would cease to
operate in a way that would allow us to attend to our daily responsibilities.
As a result, the brain has efficiency
filters. It’s good at figuring out what information we need and when. It knows
that if you’re in a busy restaurant, for example, the sound of the person
you’re talking to is more important than the background noise, so it adjusts.
This mechanism, however, unfortunately also
comes with an unintended side-effect. The byproduct is that, sometimes,
attention isn’t fully deployed to certain areas of importance unless we’re
active in directing it there. With efficiency, there’s compromise.
Michael Kane is a cognitive psychologist at
The University of North Carolina who studies the interaction between memory and
attention.
In one of his experiments, he sampled
students for their thoughts at eight random times in a day for a week. Out of
124 participants, he found that, on average, people were thinking about
something entirely different to what they were doing about 30% of the time.1
This is a conservative number compared to the
results turned up by similar work, and it shows how easy it is to neglect
relevant information and fall into the autonomous loop.2
Throughout Meditations, Aurelius is active in pointing
out the value of looking beyond what we intuitively see on the surface in daily
life to better understand the world. In his own words:
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind
as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy
observation in life.”
Although attention doesn’t automatically lend
itself to each relevant piece of information, we can train our brain to be more
proactive. By keeping this fact at the top of our mind, we can paint a more
representative picture of the world. That’s where awareness begins.
Set a few times in your day to really look
and to listen. Be deliberate in seeking to bypass the compromise made by the
autonomous brain. There’s a lot out there, and a lot of it matters.
Harness Objectivity Through a Different Host of Eyes
One of the cornerstones of awareness is
objectivity. It’s a kind of neutrality that aims to see the world as it is and
not through personal judgment and bias. It’s not easy to cultivate.
By design, our senses absorb information in
relation to where we are, what we’re doing, and how we feel. The world bombards
us with stimuli, and these stimuli follow a different neural pathway in each of
us. We all make sense of them differently.
We predominantly go through life
understanding the world and influencing our behavior like we’re at the center
of reality, and that everything around us derives its importance according to
how it fits into our narrative. It warps our perception of our surroundings and
how they unfold.
In cosmology, the Copernican Principle states
that Earth has no privileged position in the universe. In spite of its
importance to us, on a grander scale, it’s very unimportant.
The universe is a big place, and we’re a
minuscule part of it. It’s an obvious statement, but we didn’t always believe
it, and it’s still not how most of us think about our existence.
The same reasoning applies to people. Despite
the intensity with which we feel and sense, much of what happens in the broader
world isn’t just about us. There’s a larger picture, and there’s more going on.
The sooner we can put aside our personal biases, the sooner we can understand
reality for what it is rather than how we feel about it. It’s a crucial
distinction.
Throughout his work, one thing that stands
out about Aurelius is his profound ability to step away and out of his own mind
and see the world and himself without emotional attachment.
It helps explain the depth of his insights.
He was able to expand his circle of awareness by tuning himself out and by
aspiring to see things from a pair of eyes with more than just a singular
perspective. It’s a very practical tactic, and most of us don’t use it enough.
Step outside your own shoes, conceptualize
your observations as if you’re in the body of someone else around you, and try
to harness objectivity through a different host of eyes.
Routinely Seek out Ways to Declutter the Mind
One of the distinguishing aspects of Meditations is that Aurelius didn’t write it for anyone other than himself. By all
accounts, it appears to be a very personal journal. There isn’t much coherence
or structure to how it’s presented. It’s merely a collection of thoughts.
This tells us that his purpose for writing
wasn’t necessarily to share his wisdom, but it was likely to practice clearing
out and organizing his own mind. There’s a lot of sense in doing that, and a
look into the work of Dr. James W. Pennebaker explains why.
Pennebaker is a pioneer in writing therapy
and a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. American
Psychological Association has recognized his work on the benefits of journaling
as some of the most important in the field.
In 1994, Pennebaker and his team split people
who had been out of a job for eight months into three groups. The first was
asked to write about their layoff and how they felt about it, the second was
invited to write but about nothing in particular, and the final group was given
no writing instructions. The result?
The participants that recorded their layoff
experiences were notably more likely to find new jobs in the aftermath of the
study. By writing, they were able to formally declutter the stress and the
noise in their minds and become more aligned with what they were feeling. It
gave them the push they needed to grasp where they were and where they needed
to go.3
Similar studies by Pennebaker have shown the
benefits of journaling range from helping people better manage trauma to a
bolstered immune system. The science is consistent.
By journaling, Aurelius was able to extract
the information restlessly roaming around in his mind and organize it into
concrete principles he could strive towards. For others, this same effect is
reached through meditation, nature walks, or even certain types of exercise.
The human mind is extremely noisy, but by
creating a routine that allows us to clear it up, we can make it less so. By
building a habit that focuses on ordering our thoughts, we can declutter the
complexity that comes with living in an increasingly busy and crowded world.
All You Need to Know
Awareness is defined as a state of being
conscious. Conscious of relevant knowledge, conscious of surroundings, and
conscious of personal feelings and thoughts. It’s a state of mind that aims to
understand reality as close to the truth as possible.
Marcus Aurelius is known today as what the
Greek philosopher Plato characterized as a Philosopher King. A political leader
who actively aspired to wisdom and was primarily driven towards true knowledge.
A leader who relentlessly asked what it means to be good.
More than his virtues and desires, however,
what drove Aurelius to successfully lead one of the most powerful empires in
history was his ability to leverage the clarity of his mind.
This is what his story can teach us:
I. Actively
train yourself to fight the autonomous loop. The human brain is immensely
efficient, and it’s very good at filtering out noise we don’t need in our
lives. Sometimes, it’s too good, and it diverts our attention away from
important information, too. It’s on you to fight autonomy and look for those
details.
II. Conceptualize
stepping outside your own body to harness pure objectivity through the eyes of
a bystander. We mostly live our lives like we’re at the center of reality. It
influences how we see, feel, and act. It shifts our perception of the world
away from what it truly is. It’s important to use tactics that help us see
through the clouds.
III. Build a habit
of routinely decluttering your mind. For example, journaling has been shown to
improve health across many different areas of life. In large part, it’s because
it organizes the thoughts aimlessly roaming around in our brain so that we’re
better able to make sense of our consciousness. It provides clarity.
The scope of your awareness defines the outer
limit of what you can accomplish. The more you know, the more accurately you
can understand your surroundings. The better you are at organizing your
thoughts, the more possibilities lie ahead of you.
Awareness is a keystone advantage, and it can
be acquired like any other skill. Practice.
ZAT
RANA
https://designluck.com/marcus-aurelius-awareness/
No comments:
Post a Comment