Marcus Aurelius — Contentment and the Common Good
The emperor Marcus Aurelius, master of vast wealth and power, counseled gratitude for what one has and service to the common good, treating possessions as borrowed and fellowship as the true treasure.
In the Meditations, written for himself amid the burdens of empire, Marcus repeatedly turns from the trappings of fortune to the inner citadel of a well-ordered mind. He reminds himself that all external goods are loaned by fortune and may be reclaimed, that craving more poisons the enjoyment of what one has, and that human beings are made for cooperation, like hands or feet working together. From this flows a prosperity measured by usefulness to others and serenity within, rather than by hoarded splendor. His insistence that we are bound to the common good prefigures modern findings that generosity and prosocial spending reliably increase the giver's own well-being. Marcus thus models how even the most materially fortunate find true wealth in gratitude, equanimity, and service.
Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess.
Dunn and Norton's research on prosocial spending shows that giving to others reliably raises the giver's happiness, supporting Marcus's view that service and gratitude, not hoarding, constitute true wealth.
Meditations
Written about in
- What the prosperity traditions say about envy and comparison
Marcus had more than anyone he could have envied, and still wrote himself a note not to dream of what he lacked but to reckon up what he had. The Meditations were private: this is a man failing at contentment repeatedly and returning to the instruction.