Book review: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

It seems to me philosophers have to detach themselves from day-to-day life. A typical example was that once Thales was so intent in his observations of the heavens, he fell into a well.

Meditations is a book of philosophy. The author was not only a philosopher, but also an emperor--a rare combination. A larger portion of the book was written during the last 10 year of his kingship (also the the last 10 years of his life). I thought he was a bit bipolar until I read this paragraph,

"If you had a stepmother and a real mother. You would pay your respects to your stepmother, yes…but it’s your real mother you’d go home to. The court…and philosophy: keep returning to it, to rest in its embrace. It’s all that makes the court—and you—endurable. "

For him philosophy was like the mum to go home to. Here is another analogy, "...and not to think of philosophy as your instructor, but as the sponge and egg white that relieve ophthalmic--as a soothing ointment, a warm lotion. "
Either my understanding of philophy was wrong or philophy had changed since Marcus Aurelius. I had thought philophy as an instructor or a stepmother. For me it is a bit too abstract to relieve any pains.

Other parts of the book are more familiar. For Aurelius the ultimate way of survival was to harmonze your being with nature's way (although he never expained how nature works),

"Don’t ever forget these things:

The nature of the world.
My nature.
How I related to the world.
What proportion of it I make up.
That you are part of nature, and no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in harmony with it, always. "

Another main message is what we think decide how we feel, something Budahism also agrees. "It's all how you perceive it. You're in control." and "Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been. "