Thesis Proposal Example: Theme of Philosophy in Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius has many diverse types of themes throughout his book Mediations. One main theme I found that covers all the themes is Philosophy. Philosophy is the study of nature and knowledge to make up reality. His collection of ideas takes shape in a philosophy handbook that Aurelius uses to connect truth with reality. Aurelius tells the hard truth in his entry in order to get his point across. In many of Aurelius' entries, he speaks of how people need to push themselves and how people should want to do better with their life. Throughout my essay, I will give examples of Aurelius’ entries that stood out to me and how we can apply it to everyday life as a college student. I will then compare and tell you how they are similar in way. Throughout many of Aurelius' entries he has written although the wording and way he portrays it is different the overall meaning of many of them a quite the same. As I author this essay, I hope to portray the uses of Aurelius’ entries in a way that explains my thoughts and how I will explain the topics. 

During life there are two ways you can go. You can either never do it on your own or you can flourish as an individual who wants to do it on their own. Aurelius wrote many different entries in his book that gives a sense independence and drive to wants to succeed in life doing it yourself. As said in Book one, page 9, “The sense he gave of staying on the path rather than being kept on it.” (Entry 15) He expresses that you should want to be able to succeed without having anyone keeping you moving forward. You should want to flourish as a person to do it on your own and succeed rather than having someone keeping you on the path and then succeeding. During life you will come across struggles and you will come across struggles where you just want to give up. When you feel down do you want to be the person who is forced to keep going with no ambition to succeed? Marcus Aurelius' message through his entry is have the ambition to keep moving forward on your own. Do not have someone forcing you to succeed because you do not have the ambition to do it on your own.  

As you succeed in your life are you happy because you did it on your own or are you happy because someone else helped you succeed. Going through college is hard but when we set goals and work hard for those goals anything is possible. Having help to achieve these goals is okay. But having someone do it for you and you being cheerful is different. Marcus Aurelius mentioned in Book 3, Page 30, “Cheerfulness. Without requiring other people’s help... To stand up straight-not straightened.” (Entry 5) The message brought through this entry is to be cheerful and happy you did it on your own rather than happy someone else did it for us. A fitting example is in college you can either cheat your way through and succeed or you can do it on your own and succeed not only in life but in your mind. To know that you worked hard for what you earned.  

Both messages brought through Aurelius' are similar in many ways. They both tell you the thought of doing it on your own rather than being forced and having someone do it for you. Even though they are remarkably similar in giving the message the wording and way he portrays it is slightly different. For example, in the first entry I spoke about it says, “...staying on the path rather than being kept on it.” meaning doing it on your own without being forced to do so. The second entry I spoke about is slightly different, “Cheerfulness. Without requiring other people's help.” This entry means being happy you were able to accomplish your goals on your own rather than being happy someone did it for you. Both entries have the overall same theme but diverse ways of saying it.  

Throughout reading Aurelius’ Mediations, I found it very helpful and encouraging to motivate me to work towards my goals in going through college. Aurelius portrays his messages through these entries and gives a sort of reality through it all. Although his mediation was written a very long time ago, it still complements today's time. While reading his entries he wrote, I was able to apply it to my everyday life. The entries I chose to write about today were special to me since it gave me a sense of comfort that I can do it on my own with hard work. I do not need someone to be there and force me to do what I need to do if I have the ambition to do so. To wrap everything up Aurelius’ message throughout the whole book is keep moving forward even when you feel nothing good is coming your way. Aurelius' displays encouragement and inspiration through words to motivate people whenever they may need it. I will be looking more into this book when I need some ambition to keep moving forward. This was a great book to read.