Soft self-help turns Stoic moral rigor into easy self-pardon.

31st August-Consider Your Failings Too

“Whenever you take offense at someone’s wrongdoing, immediately turn to your own similar failings, such as seeing money as good, or pleasure, or a little fame whatever form it takes. By thinking on this, you’ll quickly forget your anger, considering also what compels them, for what else could they do? Or, if you are able, remove their compulsion.”

-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 10.30

The commentary:

Earlier we were reminded of Socrates’s tolerant belief that “no one does wrong on purpose.” The clearest proof of that hypothesis? All the times we did wrong without malice or intention. Remember them? The time you were rude because you hadn’t slept in two days. The time you acted on bad information. The time you got carried away, forgot, didn’t understand. The list goes on and on. This is why it is so important not to write people off or brand them as enemies. Be as forgiving of them as you are of yourself. Cut them the same slack you would for yourself so that you can continue to work with them and make use of their talents.

Chaff & Wheat Analyse:

critique highlights a fundamental flaw in the modern commentary provided.

The modern commentary frames self-reflection as an exercise in self-justification and self-excusal—recalling times when "we did wrong without malice

“because we were tired, misinformed, or overwhelmed, and using that to”

cut others the same slack we give ourselves." It operates from a position of comfortable moral parity: I am fundamentally well-meaning despite my mistakes, so I will extend that same benefit of the doubt to you.

Marcus Aurelius is doing the exact opposite. His reflection is driven by rigorous self-accusation and moral humility.

When Marcus tells you to look at your own failings, he is not asking you to recall benign accidents or bad days. He specifically highlights moral vices: placing value on wealth, pleasure, or fame. He is warning against moral hypocrisy—getting angry at another person's ethical failure while you yourself suffer from the exact same corrupt values and misplaced priorities.

The original passage rests on two core Stoic principles that the commentary overlooks:

• Internal Moral Vigilance — You have no right to judge another's character when your own internal value system remains flawed. Realizing your own attachment to petty desires (money, fame) strips away your moral superiority and renders your anger hypocritical.

• Objective Determinism (Compulsion) — Marcus notes that the wrongdoer acts out of internal "compulsion"—a mistaken belief about what is good. Rather than self-satisfyingly forgiving them from a pedestal of self-perceived virtue, Marcus urges either correcting their false impressions if possible or accepting their nature without personal outrage.

turns Marcus's sharp tool for self-scrutiny into a comforting exercise in self-pardon, missing the radical accountability at the heart of Stoic practice.