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The 12th and final book of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations is full of gems. Marcus starts off telling himself how to become worthy of the universe that made him.

"if you shall not be afraid because you must some time cease to live, but if you shall fear never to have begun to live according to nature then you will be a man worthy of the universe which has produced you..."

Other nuggets and aphorisms to himself are just as riveting.

"If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it."

Listen to his advice to himself and see how you can make your life reflect the virtues that are so prized within Stoicism and hopefully your own life.

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Bruce has found another hero to obsess about, no surprise it's the world's fastest marathoner: Eluid Kipchoge (a stoic adjacent runner.) In today's episode we break down some of the many lessons that can be learned from him through the lens of Marcus's beautiful quote in chapter 11:

"The pythagoreans bid us in the mornings to look to the heavens that we may be reminded of those bodies that continually do the same things and in the same manner perform their work, and also be reminded of their purity and nudity. For there is no veil over a star."

We explore the lessons of humility, discipline and the power of doing real work that Kipchoge shows us.

And we give you an unforgettable quiz at the end of the show...

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Book 11 of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

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Have you ever had a friend insist that a quote is relevant, additive, and deep, but you just don't get it? Listen to Bruce try to justify bringing in this quote from "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and see if it resonates with you?

Have you ever wondered what the nature of life is? Marcus says, "A healthy pair of eyes should see everything that can be seen and not say, 'No! Too bright!'.. So too a healthy mind should be prepared for anything." This frames our discussion as we try to learn and explore how we can take in everything life throws at us.

What is a healthy relationship with what life gives us? We explore that through a lens of "maturity" through a very ethereal quote from David Whyte and explore where we are immature with our relationship with nature.

Are you dying to share Stoicism with young folks in your life, but scared that you'll come across as an old codger? Well, we have a solution for YOU! This Stoic Reimagining we make a natural tale about Stoic growth that will really connect with young people! Cybertruck cars, iphone 16 pro's, explosions, bopping music, trust me these kids will be foaming at the mouth to read Discourses by Epictetus by the end of listening to this!

Lyrics from "Hurt" by Sleeping at Last used for intro/outro story.

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In Book 10 of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reflects on the impermanence of life, the futility of seeking fame, and the importance of living in harmony with nature. He emphasizes resilience in the face of adversity, urging us to accept what we cannot change and focus on our duty. He reminds himself—and us—that external recognition is fleeting, while true fulfillment comes from acting with wisdom, justice, and integrity.

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This episode took us a year to make... Well, at least it is the byproduct of a year focused on focus and rest for Bruce. If you read between the lines of Meditations Book 9 you'll find an emperor who also shares an obsession with finding ways to increase his focus and find rest.

For instance Marcus says things like:

"You can remove out of the way many useless things among those which disturb thee, for they lie entirely in thy opinion"

Or

"Let there be freedom from perturbation with things which come from the external cause and let there be justice done by virtue of the internal cause that is, let there be movement and action terminating in this, in social acts."

In this episode we explore practical ways we can sharpen our focus and deepen our rest.

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As is now Modern Meditations tradition we ended 2024 with reading Seneca’s “On The Shortness of Life” and sat down for a chat about how we did with this year that is not coming back.

We both saw meaningful ways that Stoicism had major impacts in our lives for the better, whether that be through breakups, travel, making major career moves, graduating college or deaths in the family.

And at the end we have the internationally acclaimed awards ceremony for the best episodes of the year called, “The Aurelis.“

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On the 50th episode of Modern Meditations we break our format to give you two audio essays that changed our views on what it means to be a citizen of the world. In Meditations we read, “My city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome; but so far as I am a human being, it is the world."

The first, by Bruce, from his trip on Thailand and the lessons he learned from the East that would solve many problems in the West. And another from Justin that shows where philanthropy without true understanding of needs and the culture can go wrong.

We intentionally left the commentary out this week and just raise interesting questions. We would love to hear your thoughts on the format and the content at modernmeditationspodcast@gmail.com.