FLOATnotes: Meditations
Meditations by Marcus Aurelies
By floating often I find that I have an easier time staying present in the day to day. I am quicker to recognize my thoughts and energy state as experiences, rather than an identity, and I can recall the experience of floating to quickly recenter and refocus as necessary. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius hammers home the idea of being at peace with your situation in his personal notebook of reminders and maxims, written over 1800 years ago. He'll frame common worries, hopes, and ambitions as being under one's control through disciplined framing and the managing of expectations. Are you concerned with posthumous fame? Consider that posthumous fame never fulfilled Caesar or Socrates. He makes the case that as all is according to nature, and man is reasonable, then there is a discoverable reason for all that is. Here is one way he reasons to an acceptance of mortality;
"…accepting all that happens, and all that is allotted, as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded. But if there is no harm to the elements themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is according to nature."
I have on special occasions set an intention before entering a tank, to meditate on a fear or goal and wait for my reason to reveal an answer to me. But every time I float I necessarily interact with the source of these answers itself. Deep meditation and prayer are in pursuit of the same connection. Read how Marcus Aurelius describes this connection.
"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest."
The boost of motivation, energy, and ingenuity I feel after a float is similar to that of coming back to work from a vacation. We all know from experience the net benefit of rest on productivity. Aurelius knows the utility of this inward focused rest, and I am grateful to have developed a habit of turning inward when I notice myself becoming overwhelmed in my day to day. When you're turning inward, he explains, you discover two eternal truths; the solitary, and the ephemeral nature of experience.
This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy own, and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal. But among the things readiest to thy hand to which thou shalt turn, let there be these, which are two. One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
Allow for the good ordering of your mind and the dissolution of your perturbations. I accomplish this through regular meditation and by spending 2-3 hours in a float tank each week. Then practice recalling that tranquility as you need throughout your day. Consider checking out The Meditations from our GreenLake Float Library for more stoic wisdom, and to deepen your understanding of sensory deprivation tank therapy!
Wesley Garman; Float Guide