Was I born for pleasure? Or was I born for a greater purpose? This is a question Marcus Aurelius asked himself every morning; especially on cold ones. Every morning we may ask ourselves why we are getting out of bed. We can remind ourselves why we are not staying under the warm covers. Marcus Aurelius, in Meditations (Book 5, I, 1-3) links getting up to reminding ourselves of our purpose. This mini-essay will discuss this fascinating passage and philosophical question.
Winter mornings are cold where I am. The climate is not especially cold. It rarely dips below zero and in the late mornings and early afternoons it can feel quite warm – if shielded from the wind. However, houses here lack central heating and insulation. The only warm place is in bed. Getting up means running around turning on space heaters. My whole being wants to stay in bed and not get out of it. It wants to watch videos and read posts on my phone.
Is that my purpose? Is it yours? Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius asked himself the same questions on mornings where it felt so much nicer to stay in bed than to get up and do things in the cold. So how did he rationalize himself out of bed? With a simple statement to the part of him that did not wish to get up. He would say ‘I am getting up for a man’s work.’
Marcus Aurelius means the work he is supposed to do as a human not necessarily just as an adult male. He was born to rule an empire and to be a philosopher. We were born for something a little more modest. Perhaps to be a father or to build, to grow, to fix, or even just clean up. They are all important functions.
His purpose is to contribute to the ordering of the world just as animals, plants, bees and birds do everyday. They get up and through their works, natural and instinctive as they are, they contribute to the world working as it ought. So humans should too.
Yet Marcus Aurelius is doing more than trying to persuade you to his point of view, he is having a conversation with himself. He is reasoning himself out of bed, and therefore he is setting an example for us. The very root of good communication is to learn to speak with ourselves – to be able to rationalize with oneself.
And so his rejoinder to himself is this – I need rest. We do, don’t we? We are not Terminators. We need to rest, but as with all things, as Marcus Aurelius understood, there is a need for balance. Just as we can eat too much, we can eat too little, just as we can sleep too much, we can sleep too little, and the same goes for rest. There are limits.
Rest is a need but done in excess it becomes a pleasure. To Marcus Aurelius, pleasure is not something we are born for because pleasant things are all feeling and no action. Men are born for action. That is who we are deep down. Therefore if we over rest, we run the risk of keeping ourselves below what we are truly capable of.
He then turns to self-interest and to self-love. If we love ourselves we would love not only who we are, but also our purposes in life. If the dancer loves to dance, they cannot do so if they stay in bed. Even those with less wholesome pursuits such as the miser who loves money or the lothario who loves love, will get out of bed to pursue their passions. They do so because they know that is how they will achieve them. They will forgo food and sleep to be successful. How will you achieve yours if you stay in bed scared of the cold? You will not.
The question I ask myself, on reading his thoughts, is what was I born for? It is a tough question for a lot of people. Not everyone instinctively knows why they are here. Some might tell us to shoulder the heaviest burden, but it seems Marcus Aurelius is talking about being useful. If you do not know what your man’s work is, think of the basic works of a man. They are to lead, to build/create, to start a family, and to find a way of being useful to society. They do not include things which are pursued just because they are pleasurable to do.
We were not born to lie in bed and dream about them. That is not why we were put on this planet. It is not why I was put on this planet. I know dreaming in bed, where I am warm, is an escape. My purpose is inside me but it is something that I have been avoiding and suppressing. I want to explore the past and ideas, and to use those explorations to weave stories and teach other people about them. I want to make sense of the world. It is a very philosophical path and yet, as no doubt Marcus Aurelius too felt, a part of me wants the normal masculine things too – to create something useful such as a family and a home.
Marcus Aurelius taught us that even the most powerful and philosophical of people meet resistance from within themselves. Even they need a way to right their minds and force action. You are not alone in that, but from his example, we can get ourselves out of bed and do a man’s work. So I got out of bed today and turned all the heaters on and then did some jumping jacks. Tomorrow, I’ll try to do that without spending half an hour on my phone first.