Online: Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations"

Into: By some accounts Marcus Aurelius's Meditations has been in continuous publication longer than any other book in the western tradition but for the Bible--and for good reason. Hardly has a collection of wisdom ever been so long-standing and valuable. It is by any account timeless.

The Meditations consists of twelve brief chapters. Our goal is to meet virtually once a month (on the 4th Thursday) and discuss the chapters in sequence, taking a causal year to cover the book. Feel free to use whatever translation you wish. That said, I recommend either Gregory Hays's most recent translation or Robin Waterfield's new annotated edition. We will also be referencing a companion book, "The Inner Citadel" by Pierre Hadot, though it is not necessary that you purchase and read it.
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In preparation for this gathering: We will be discussing notebook three in this gathering. Here is what Robin Waterfield has to say about book 3, which was written in Carnuntum:

"Carnuntim...was the capital of the Roman province Pannonia Superior. Marcus made it his headquarters in the early 170s for the Macromannic Wars....Carnumtim lay on the Danube, which was the boundary of this part of the Roman Empire, with hostile Germanic tribes...on the northern side. Life in headquarters was more peaceful than life on the front line, and this perhaps explains the relatively light and constructive tone of this notebook, which focuses above all on what it is to be a good [person]."

As you read these passages—16 total in notebook three—be open for one that speaks to you, that says something you can work with. Call it a nugget of wisdom or insight, perhaps.

Give some thought to your passage, perhaps do a bit of research. Let's share and support one another on this journey. This meeting, like those that will follow, will be an open round-table discussion of passages shared.

I must insert a bit of housekeeping here. I am spending the summer in a remote location. My connectivity is occasionally spotty and sometimes bandwidth is lacking. I have shorted this meeting to one hour as a result. We can obviously go beyond that if the technology is working accordingly. There is too, the slight chance that I will in some way or another not be able to connect. I doubt this very much, but want to put that out there should it occur.
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I hope you'll join us for what will not doubt an interesting and fruitful journey into the mind and writings of one of history's great wisdom teachers.