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Modeling According to Marcus Aurelius and MEDITATIONS

by Jeffrey DeCristofaro

Views: 140 | Submitted: 06/22/2009

The modeling industry is, like everything else, a universe of constant struggle. There is no doubt that if you are entering such a universe you are bound to hit certain speed bumps – especially if you are one of those on a quest for instant fame on magazine front pages and TV screens.

The most obvious obstacles in your quest are low self-esteem, fear of losing in competition with your peers or superiors, and the possibility of being manipulated in certain unethical methods by those who hire you for work in projects such as films, television shows, commercials, music videos, and other media and events. These, of course, would allow for moments of confusion, frustration, sadness, anger, and above all, a lack of self-control that could seriously jeopardize your plans.

For these reasons above all, and because of my plans to model and star in films while simultaneously confronting any obstacles that could derail me in the process, I decided to seek immortal advice from a model of a different sort. I’m referring, of course, to a role model who provided strong guidelines and basic principles for the western world long after his reign over one of the mightiest civilizations in ancient times ended. That civilization was the Roman Empire, and the role model was Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.)

Marcus was unique in that although he was a Roman emperor, he has been more regarded for his contributions as a philosopher than as the ruler of a nation that rose from the Italy’s Tiber to civilize the world through conquest. Shortly after he was born under the name Marcus Annius Verus, which happened to be during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Marcus’s father died young, and he was adopted by his grandfather, who had him educated by various skilled tutors.

At the age of 16, he was adopted again, this time by his uncle Aurelius Antoninus, an adopted son of Hadrian who had no sons of his own, save for his adopted son Lucius Verus. Aurelius had Marcus’s last name changed to his own full name and arranged for Marcus to be married to his daughter Faustina. Although they had 14 children, only one son survived: Marcus’s inept successor Commodus, whose corrupt reign is generally acknowledged as the beginning stages of the fall of the Roman Empire. This particular mythic historical account – of Commodus’ succession to power following Marcus’s death – was a partial inspirational basis for two epic films: Anthony Mann’s THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE(1964, where Marcus Aurelius was played by Sir Alec Guinness) and Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR (2000, where he was played by the late Richard Harris).

After his uncle died, Marcus decided to make Lucius his colleague in government, which resulted in a joint reign of two emperors over the Empire for the first time in history. By the time Lucius died, leaving Marcus in sole charge, the Empire suffered the onslaught of such events including droughts, fires, plagues, famine, and invasions by various Germanic tribes. Marcus would eventually lead a Roman campaign against the tribes on the Danube Frontier, which started just one year prior to Lucius’ death but did not end following his death (believed to be caused by an illness from an still unknown source).

During that time period, Marcus Aurelius lived a melancholy life, and tried to make an attempt to understand himself, as well as how humanity and the universe worked, either in unison or as totally separate factors. The result of his contemplations was the MEDITATIONS, a series of sacred and secular assertions revealing the purpose and principles that the human condition is founded on – usually revolving around the principles of unabashed humility, deep respect, unfathomable love in various perspectives, an unbreakable code of honor, and (most notably), practice of self-control in all private and public activities.

Although he never intended it to be published after his death, the MEDITATIONS were preserved within Rome’s archives and were first published in 1559, helping to establish Marcus as one of the greatest philosophers to ever uphold the Stoic tradition. His views have served as a model for politicians, scientists, artists and other philosophers the world over. Ironically, even the Christian world followed this magnificent Pagan’s principles, thoroughly incorporating his more secular morals into their doctrines and expanding it through sermons (although many open-minded Christians have followed his more sacred statements as well).

It seems fitting, therefore, that a “Code of Modeling” using several of Marcus Aurelius’ most treasured statements should be forged right here and now. This code should not just be for models that already have prolonged experience and superstardom in the modeling industry, and neither should it be only for those who have just begun, or those who are starting to make a breakthrough. For that matter, it shouldn’t just be for models alone, but photographers, hair/make-up artists, agencies and other members as well. It should also be followed by all amateurs and students who dream of joining the modeling industry, so that they can try to understand themselves thoroughly, and confront all the obstacles that lie ahead, including those that hide deep within them.

As I have a superb 2006 Penguin Classics edition of the MEDITATIONS, translated with notes by Martin Hammond with an introduction by Diskin Clay, for my own personal, spiritual, educational and occasionally religious means, I have scrutinized it thoroughly and selected passages that seem to be, upon quick reading, relevant enough in establishing the Code of Modeling. I acquired this text for use as one of the assigned volumes for my first course in the Master of Liberal Arts program at the University of North Carolina, Asheville during the Fall semester of 2009 – a course focusing on how the human condition was explored in literature and history, and how it could be applied to our own lives in terms of how we let things affect us and affect others through our thoughts and actions.

The following selection of quotations from Hammond’s translation – each listed under their volumes from Books 2 through 8 – wasn’t easy at first, especially since most of the MEDITATIONS, in reflecting Marcus’s level of morality, are at times redundant in expressing the same morals more than once. But here they are, and while they’re not in the particular order that Marcus originally penned, they all mark an invaluable prospect of life that people from around the world are already – or already should be – following. None of them are to be regarded or used lightly. And remember while reading this that if you feel like I have no right telling you exactly how you should live your life, remember that I am only repeating someone else’s words, and that person from which these words or morals originate did not waste his last moments in life trying to understand how the world worked, what part we all play, and how we can and should live our lives decently.

BOOK 2

“Say to yourself first thing in the morning: today I shall meet people who are meddling, ungrateful, aggressive, treacherous, malicious, unsocial. All this has afflicted them through their true ignorance of good and evil. But I have seen that the nature of good is what is right, and the nature of evil is what is wrong… Therefore I cannot be harmed by any of them, as none will infect me with their wrong… We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. So to work in opposition to one another is against nature; and anger or rejection is opposition.”

– Med. 1

“Do externals tend to distract you? Then give yourself the space to learn some further good lesson, and stop your wandering. That done, you must guard against the other sort of drift. Those who are dead to life and have no aim for the direction of every impulse and, more widely, every thought are drivellers in deed as well as word.” – Med. 7

BOOK 3

“Do not waste the remaining part of your life in thoughts about other people, when you are not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common good. Why deprive yourself of the time for some other task? … Train yourself to think only those thoughts such that in answer to the sudden question ‘What is in your mind now?’ you could say with immediate frankness whatever it is, this or that: and so your answer can give direct evidence that all your thoughts are straightforward and kindly, the thoughts of a social being who has no regard for the fancies of pleasure or wider indulgence, for rivalry, malice, suspicion, or anything else that one would blush to admit was in one’s mind.” – Med. 4

“… it is not right that the rational and social good should be rivaled by anything of a different order, for example the praise of the many, or power, or wealth, or the enjoyment of pleasure. All these things may seem to suit for a little while, but they can suddenly take control and carry you away. So you, I repeat, must simply and freely choose the better and hold to it. ‘But better is what benefits.’ If to your benefit as a rational being, adopt it: but if simply to your benefit as an animal, reject it, and stick to your judgment without fanfare. Only make sure that your scrutiny is sound.” – Med. 6

“Never regard as a benefit to yourself anything which will force you at some point to break your faith, to leave integrity behind, to hate, suspect, or curse another, to dissemble, to cover anything needing the secrecy of walls and drapes.” – Med. 7

“If you set yourself to your present task along the path of true reason, with all determination, vigour and good will… if you grapple this to you, expecting nothing, shirking nothing, but self-content with each present action taken in accordance with nature and a heroic truthfulness in all that you say and mean – then you will lead a good life. And nobody is able to stop you.” – Med. 12

BOOK 4

“No action should be undertaken without aim, or other than in conformity with a principle affirming the art of life.” – Med. 2

“No wandering. In every impulse, give what is right: in thought, stick to what is certain.” – Med. 22

“Love the art which you have learnt, and take comfort in it.” – Med. 31

BOOK 5

“They cannot admire you for intellect. Granted – but there are many other qualities of which you cannot say, ‘but that is not the way I am made.’ So display those virtues which are wholly in your own power – integrity, dignity, hard work, self-denial, contentment, frugality, kindness, independence, simplicity, discretion, magnanimity. Do you not see how many virtues you can already display without any excuse of lack or talent or aptitude?” – Med. 5

“Do not give up in disgust or impatience if you do not find action on the right principles consolidated into a habit in all that you do. No: if you have taken a fall, come back again, and be glad if most of your actions are on the right side of humanity. And love what you return to.” – Med. 9

“Think of the whole of existence, of which you are the tiniest part; think of the whole of time, in which you have been assigned a brief and fleeting moment; think of destiny – what fraction of that are you?” – Med. 24

“‘There was a time when I met luck at every turn.” But luck is the good fortune you determine for yourself: and good fortune consists in good inclinations of the soul, good impulses, good actions.” – Med. 37

BOOK 6

“If you are doing your proper duty let it not matter to you whether you are cold or warm, whether you are sleepy or well-slept, whether men speak badly or well of you, even whether you are on the point of death or doing something else…” – Med. 2

“When circumstances force you to some sort of distress, quickly return to yourself. Do not stay out of rhythm for longer than you must: you will master the harmony more by constantly going back to it.” – Med. 11

“Since you have reason and they do not, treat dumb animals and generally all things and objects with generosity and decency… And do not let it matter to you for how long you will be alive in this work: even three hours spent thus are sufficient.” – Med. 23

“How cruel it is not to allow people to strive for what seems to be them their interest and advantage! And yet in a way you are forbidding them to do this, when you fuss that they are wrong: they are surely drawn to their own interest and advantage. ‘But it is not actually so’: well then, teach them, show them, do not fuss.” – Med. 27

“Fit yourself for the matters which have fallen to your lot, and love those people among whom destiny has cast you – but your love must be genuine.” – Med. 53

“We all work together to the same end, some with conscious attention, others without knowing it… One person contributes in this way, another in that: and there is room even for the critic who tries to oppose or destroy the production… So it remains for you to decide in which category you place yourself.” – Med. 42

“You do not resent your weight, do you – that you weigh only so many pounds and not three hundred? So why resent either a life-span of so many years and not more? Just as you are content with the amount of matter allocated to you, so you should be content with your allocation of time.” – Med. 49

“How to understand your own good: the lover of glory takes it to be the reactions of others; the lover of pleasure takes it to be his own passive experience; the intelligent man sees it as his own action.” – Med. 51

BOOK 7

“Do not dream of possession of what you do not have: rather reflect on the greatest blessings in what you do have, and on their account remind yourself how much they would have missed if they were not there. But at the same time you must be careful not to let your pleasure in them habituate you to dependency, to avoid distress if they are sometimes absent.” – Med. 27

“On fame. Look at their minds, the nature of their thought and what they seek or avoid. And see how, just as drifting sands consistently overlay the previous sand, so in our lives what we once did is very quickly covered by subsequent layers.” – Med. 34

“Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.” – Med. 69

“It is ridiculous not to escape from one’s own vices, which is possible, while trying to escape the vices of others, which is impossible.” – Med. 71

“When you have done good and another has benefitted, why do you still look, as fools do, for a third thing besides – credit for good works, or a return?” – Med. 73

BOOK 8

“Regret is a censure of yourself for missing something beneficial. The good must be something beneficial, and of concern to the wholly good person. No wholly good person would regret missing a pleasure. Therefore pleasure is neither beneficial nor a good.” – Med. 10

“Constantly test your mental impressions – each one individually, if you can: investigate the cause, identify the emotion, apply the analysis of logic.” – Med. 13

“Remember that to change course or accept correction leaves you just as free as you were. The action is your own, driven by your impulse and judgment, indeed your own intelligence.” – Med. 16

“You must compose your life action by action, and be satisfied if each action achieves its own end as best can be: and no one can prevent you from that achievement. ‘But there will be some external obstacle.’ No obstacle, though, to justice, self-control, and reason. ‘But perhaps some other source of action will be obstructed.’ Well gladly accept the obstruction as it is, make a judicious change to meet the given circumstance, and another action will immediately substitute and fit into the composition of your life as discussed.” – Med. 32

“Accept humbly: let go easily.” – Med. 33

“Do not let the panorama of your life oppress you, do not dwell on all the various troubles with may have occurred in the past or may occur in the future. Just ask yourself in each instance of the present: ‘What is there in this work which I cannot endure or support?’” – Med. 36

“If you have sharp sight, use it, but, as the poet says, add wise judgment.” – Med. 38

In the end, all of us – regardless of whether or not we are models – are walking in the forever-haunting shadow of Marcus Aurelius and the philosophy of his MEDITATIONS.

- Jeffrey Douglas DeCristofaro