Instead of Aristotle's proclamation of man simply as a public animal, which indicated the size and nature of society, the Stoics declared man a citizen of the universe, thus adding a higher character and wider boundaries to the community. Because they logically conclude that if the same Spirit lives and works in all men, the same Mind, though not to the same extent, can essentially have only one state, one right, one law for all men. Thus the Stoics reach the basic view of humanism, depicted especially by the late Stoics with particular warmth and beauty. It is definitely a religious one, because the dignity and the value of man are derived from his belonging to the Divine.
The teachings of the Stoics are highly religious. According to them, everywhere in the world and at the same time, the world has absolute Reason. God, from Whom everything comes, Who rules and moves everything. It is like a fiery Spirit penetrating and embracing everything. Because of this, the doctrine of the presence of God all over the world, Stoicism for a very long time mistakenly considered pantheistic. In fact, his teachings are a truly high pantheism, since God believes that he does not really identify himself with the world anyway, but as his Creator and Engine, he is considered totally unconceivable to him, transcendent and unparalleled in the virtues of the world . God, men and inferior beings are connected according to the Stoics in an indivisible body, permeated by Divine Reason. And religion, in their view, is nothing but a humble, conscious, and devoted obedience to the internal divine laws of this whole. Godliness is knowledge and constantly practicing the worship of the gods, says Mark Aurelius. This worship is, by its very nature, the creation of right concepts for them, the obedience to their will, the pursuit and imitation of their perfection, the purity of the heart and the intentions. With one speech, piety is nothing but wisdom and virtue. True religion coincides with true philosophy.
"Reflections" - as a philosophical and literary monument - reflects in an original form the wide panorama of the ideological currents during that era. Despite the strong Hellenistic influence on Mark Aurelius, it is not justified to claim that his worldview is eclectic and syncretic. In this case, there are the basic concepts of Stoic philosophical school - with its typical ethics - but without considering the first and two parts: logic and physics. The main goal of the author is to introduce into life that critical knowledge, which, according to Stoics, makes man truly lucky and virtuous, leading him to a dignified existence. But Mark Aurelius is too far from Christianity. He is captured by the stochastic illusion that the renewal and survival of the Roman Catholic Roman religion with its Olympic gods is still possible. Mark Aurelius's approach to Christianity is state-pragmatic, but it is not philosophically profound and true. This can be explained by the martyrdom of St. Justin Philosopher and the negative attitude of the emperor to Christianity, which conquers the ancient world through the blood of its martyrs.
At the same time, some positive aspects of Mark Aurelius' views, reflected in his work "Towards Himself" (Reflections), can not be denied. First of all, this is his attempt to establish a higher moral code on the path of self-critical critical analysis. Secondly, his understanding of man as a free citizen of the universe, ie. a member not of a separate tribe or nation but an integral part of the united humanity. This is a completely new phenomenon of the ancient world. This universalism of consciousness is consequently one of the specific psychological circumstances favoring the all-embracing Christianity as a universal religion of all races, of all tribes and peoples. In this respect, the composition of Mark Aurelius gives us very valuable and interesting information about the contemporaneity and spirituality of the then Roman, about the conceptual directions of one of the most widespread in the antiquity philosophical school - the Stoic - roughly a century and a half before the final victory of Christianity over the old pagan world.