My soul was degrading.

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
– Marcus Aurelius

Do you ever catch yourself wondering what it really means to live a meaningful life? Or why, despite our best efforts, we sometimes feel disconnected, restless, or even lost? I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, and today, while reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, I stumbled upon a passage that made me stop in my tracks. It posed a simple yet profound question: “How do humans degrade their souls?”

At first glance, the question seems obvious, almost too simple. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised how rarely we actually ask ourselves this. As I sat with Marcus’s wisdom, I realised just how powerful and relevant his answers are, even today. And the surprising part? The answers weren’t as obvious as I thought.

Such a simple question, yet mostly, no one would be able to answer it.

Marcus Aurelius beautifully describes the 5 ways in which a human soul degrades itself:

1. When it does best to become an abscess, a detached growth on the world.
2. When it turns its back on another person or sets out to do it harm, as the souls of the angry do
3. When it is overpowered by pleasure or pain.
4. When it puts on a mask and does or says something artificial or false
5. When it allows its action and impulse to be without a purpose, to be random and disconnected, even the smallest things ought to be directed toward a goal.

These seem simple yet convey a powerful message. At first glance, I could not comprehend them, but when I gave thought to them individually, it all made sense.

The first point, though cryptic, gives a simple message, “ Don’t detach yourself from the world” When you get detached, it may be due to being angry at someone or some other reason; you become an abscess. This haunts the soul and makes the soul degrade from the inside. We lose the sense of connection, love, care, and many other attributes that could have made our lives much more worthwhile. So, the message I concluded was,

“ We should not be overly upset or angry in life such that we detach ourselves from this world.”

The second point has a straightforward message: that is not harming others. We should try to remain in control of our emotions and use our emotions for the benefit of others and not to harm other people. If we do that, we save the emotions inside ourselves, which are responsible for making us humans and that too good and compassionate humans who want to succeed in life along with others and not by destroying others for selfish reasons. The message I concluded from this point:

Use love and compassion to deal with people. Even those who mean harm to you. By doing so, you will realise the power of human love, compassion and purpose in this life.

Now, the third point is self-explanatory. Don’t be overpowered by pleasure or pain. We all know how certain pleasures in the contemporary world are destroying the youth. Be it Drugs, P-RN or addiction towards certain kinds of pain like physical, etc. They all contribute to the process of soul degradation, and we need to be careful of this. The message I concluded from this point:

Never overindulge in pain or pleasure. Both give benefits/satisfaction for a shorter time and destroy long-term lives. Focus on the long term rather than the short term.

The fourth point is interesting. In a nutshell, it talks about wearing masks, being fake and showing dishonesty. In today’s world, you see these people in all directions. Hell, even if we could be among them, we might not know this. When we try any of the above attributes, we fill our soul with poison, and the people around us can not be trusted. We need to wear masks to succeed in life. This kind of attitude is responsible for rotting our souls. The message I learned:

Even though you might find the need to wear a mask, try once to believe the people. Maybe you will be able to change their perspective as well. Start from yourself and save a soul at a time.

Finally, the last one. It talks about “ Having a purpose in life”. Life without purpose in not worth living. When we live without purpose, we are full of negative energies and affect the people around us. We bring them in the same room where our soul is being rotten. We start a chain reaction of rotting souls. When we are without purpose, we act in the same way, without worrying about the consequences and without the direction. We rot the air surrounding us. The message I learned:

Have a purpose in life; it can be a simple one. But do have one. Wake up every morning and recite your purpose to yourself. When you sleep, recite that purpose again. With time, you will be the purpose of your own life. Doing every action with thought and not just acting on emotional impulses.

Reading and understanding them made me realise how much I was responsible for my degraded soul. These simple arguments, given back some 2000 years back, still hold value. We should try to embed these principles in our minds and souls. Let us start by saving our souls from degrading.

Let us start by doing the same; I have started this. Will You?