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Book three. Mostly Marcus advising himself on how to achieve the good life which is to be a social being that doesn't have desires that are practiced in privacy, because such things go against the social nature of man which seems uncritical to the nature of desires to me. Marcus also advocates for the practice of deliberative judgement in everyday life, which in turn helps you to appreciate the divine nature.

Book 2. Everything in the world is participating in a greater unity where everything plays a role. There are many finite goals and roles for us to pursue but the best one for us is to live a life of reason, and in doing so we will protected from the wanton pursuit of pleasure and being taken over by pain. There is no wordly evil, but an indifferent nature and it only seems evil due to our ignorance or weakness.

The introduction provides a short biography on Marcus Aurelius, intellectual influences on Marcus, description of various themes & doctrines of the meditations and his contemporary influence. From the introduction, Marcus' philosophy of mind seems a bit simplistic compared to later philosophers. The phrasing of some of some of Marcus' literary techniques in the meditations are also charming.