What we need is not just rules, and an inner determination to follow those rules, but an imaginatively powerful model for ethical success. One contemporary company president has suggested to me that we all need to carry around in our heads the image of one or two people, historical figures of powerful character, or personal mentors that we admire, and that we should be prepared to ask ourselves, in any moral or ethical situation, what that person would do if faced with the same choices. From our prehistoric past, we are deep down emulators, imprinting from those we look to, and, because of this, we should look to only those we most admire. Good and powerful advice indeed. Our Emperor understands that the royal road to lasting success lies along the moral high ground.
Goodness is so important that there is a real urgency to moral living.
Any day that we deviate from the straight ethical path that our hearts deeply recognize is a day that we tear our own faces, severely disfiguring our appearance to those around us, and undermining the long term effects for good that we otherwise could have. As Marcus recognized, all the wealth of an empire, fame throughout the world, and unparalleled power cannot add up to the importance of a good life. This is a message from millennia past that so many of us have to learn the hard way. But, however we come to it, it is worth the trouble, and can change our lives dramatically. The demands of integrity are the doorway to lasting fulfillment and inner peace.