Marcus Aurelius: Constantly Test Your Mental Impressions

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - 8:13

Marcus Aurelius had a stressful life - to say the least. Whether he was at the Roman court hearing plots to usurp him, leading the Roman soldiers against foes, or dealing with his own internal battles, he suffered mightily. Negative stress can overwhelm a person no matter what life stage they are in, and that stress followed Marcus around like a constant companion. No matter where he was or what he was doing, that gnawing tension was apparent.

In Meditations, and especially in Book 8, Marcus was belittling himself to a large degree, writing chapters that dealt with that stress, that tension - the stress and tension that we all have. In chapter 13 of Book 8, Marcus states:

“Constantly test your mental impressions - each one individually, in you can: investigate the cause, identify the emotion, apply the analysis of logic.”

This practice of testing one’s own mental impressions is something that Epictetus, another Stoic philosopher and “father” to Marcus’ Stoic beliefs, stated clearly in his Handbook and Discourses. The impressions that one has are not the truth; they are mere impressions, subject only to the next phase of thought. If an impression is negative or positive, that should not preclude one from forming a deeper understanding of the event itself. If one follows the initial impression, then he or she is doing a disservice to the Stoic philosophy if that is what they practice. One should “go deeper,” wanting and applying the correction that the initial impression sought.

Marcus states that one should examine these impressions with three tests:

1. Investigate the cause

2. Identify the emotion

3. Apply the analysis of logic

Investigate the cause is the first test that Marcus prescribes. Investigating the cause is one test that we should all follow, for if one doesn’t know the root cause, how can one follow the two other rules? The cause and effect “rule” that Marcus points to is one that can be applied throughout our lives in different formats. The second rule is the identification of the emotion tied into the event, for if we can pinpoint the emotion that the event either brings up inside ourselves or is new, we can further delineate what we want to accomplish. Further, if one identifies the emotion and learns how to deal with the emotions that event has, then one can be better able to respond and not react. Finally, if one follows those two rules, then one can use logic to make the correct decision. While Marcus was by no means a logistician, he understood that by applying logic one could resolve a lot of the disputes that come one’s way.

These tests in this chapter are ones that I often use, but I do not use them enough in my daily living. What “tests” do you use to combat your own mental impressions?