The striking part of Meditations is that Marcus Aurelius is determined to accept the world as it is and not to let it get the better of him. Doing the right thing, as guided and disciplined by reason, is what these meditations are about.

His thoughts are based on a view about how the world and reality works. The world is governed by universal laws and so there's a rational structure to it. What happens is meant to happen. The role of the human mind is to understand it and, through reason, govern one's life accordingly. His views on the cycle of life and death, including his own, best illustrates his worldview about the nature of reality and one's place in it, and how one must accept death as our ultimate fate.

While his views about the impermanence of the world are impressive, Marcus Aurelius seems focused on constructing a world as he believes it ought to be, not as it is. This gets to his almost sole focus on using reason to deny pain and to will unpleasantness out of existence. It's admirable in a way, but also seems unreal and possibly unhealthy (not being true to oneself). In a similar way, he makes various assertions about how the world ought to be (higher creatures "must exist for one another"). This sounds like a logical truth but it is a non sequitur. Why "must"? "Human beings...have reason," he says, "so treat them in a spirit of fellowship". The word "so" in this context is loaded with the sound of truth but for the skeptic it really begs a deeper question: "Why?"

All of the precursors to the contemporary views of reason are here in the Meditations. Reason is the divine spirit within. The real self is mind. Reason directs impulses. Through mind, reason and law, we become world citizens, part of the brotherhood of rational beings. All things are one, but thinking creatures occupying the highest place and "lower orders of creation must exist for the higher...." We are part of universal mind. Justice is reason. Displays of anger and grief is a weakness; they need to be controlled by reason ("real men don't cry"). As to who among us have mind and reason, Marcus Aurelius does not include women in the same category as men because or their "womanish disposition" that is not as susceptible to rational control, or because of their "womanishly wilful heart." How this is a conclusion of the rational mind is unclear.

Finally, on an unrelated note, Marcus Aurelius makes an interesting reference to "the drooping head of a corn stalk," which makes one wonder if corn was a sole product of the New World after all.