Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: There by thyself to put these questions…
There by thyself to put these questions to thyself or to enter in these considerations: What is my chief and principal part, which hath power over the rest? What is now the present estate of it, as I use it; and what is it, that I employ it about?
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
You cannot always choose the conditions around you, but you can regularly inspect the part of you that meets them. What is running your life right now: judgment, fear, vanity, appetite, resentment, or some mixture of all five? Most days we do not ask. We simply follow the next feeling, the next notification, the next demand. Marcus recommends a private check-in, not to shame yourself but to regain command. You can do it in a parked car, before sleep, or while waiting for coffee. What is my mind occupied with? Is it becoming clearer or more scattered? Is it serving something worthwhile? These questions create a small gap between impulse and action. In that gap is freedom. Today, take two quiet minutes and ask what your ruling faculty has been working for. Then give it one better assignment.
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