Seneca on Liberal Arts Education 6

 . . . "I come next to the person who boasts his knowledge of the heavenly bodies, who knows:

Whither the chilling star of Saturn hides,
And through what orbit Mercury doth stray.

"Of what benefit will it be to know this? That I shall be disturbed because Saturn and Mars are in opposition, or when Mercury sets at eventide in plain view of Saturn, rather than learn that those stars, wherever they are, are propitious, and that they are not subject to change?

"They are driven along by an unending round of destiny, on a course from which they cannot swerve. They return at stated seasons; they either set in motion, or mark the intervals of the whole world's work.

"But if they are responsible for whatever happens, how will it help you to know the secrets of the immutable? Or if they merely give indications, what good is there in foreseeing what you cannot escape? Whether you know these things or not, they will take place.

Behold the fleeting sun,
The stars that follow in his train, and thou
Shalt never find the morrow play thee false,
Or be misled by nights without a cloud.

"It has, however, been sufficiently and fully ordained that I shall be safe from anything that may mislead me. 'What,' you say, 'does the 'morrow never play me false? Whatever happens without my knowledge plays me false.'

"I, for my part, do not know what is to be, but I do know what may come to be. I shall have no misgivings in this matter; I await the future in its entirety; and if there is any abatement in its severity, I make the most of it. If the morrow treats me kindly, it is a sort of deception; but it does not deceive me even at that. For just as I know that all things can happen, so I know, too, that they will not happen in every case. I am ready for favorable events in every case, but I am prepared for evil." . . .

--Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to  Lucilius, 88 (tr Gummere)

It may seem easy for us to mock astrology, especially if we think of ourselves as intelligent, educated, and modern in our sensibilities.  It is, after all, comforting to think we, in our progressive and scientific age, are more enlightened than our barbarian ancestors.

Let us not be too hasty. Whatever the time or the place, we are all subject to false imaginings and invented causes. I am still somewhat surprised by the number of people I know who take astrology quite seriously. I should not be surprised, however, because there are many other ways in which we replace reason with fantasy.

Seneca is asking us what comfort we might be getting from attributing the aspects of our lives to the motions of the heavens. We look for easy answers to real questions, and we feel so much more secure if we think we can understand and predict our circumstances, to know what will happen and what will become of us.

Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the stars determine or predict my fate. If it is going to happen, if it must happen of necessity, would it make any difference if I knew?

I have beaten myself over the head, time an time again. If I had only known what was going to happen, I would have made a different choice. Notice how ridiculous this statement is. Either I am destroying the very possibility of freedom by embracing the necessity of fate, in which case there never would have been a choice to begin with, or I am basing my choice upon something that follows from it, having the effect precede the cause.

One of the annoying quirks of my own admittedly befuddled mind is that I seem to always retain the most vivid memories of the events I would most like to forget.  I once decided I was going to propose marriage to a woman I was hopelessly in love with. I still recall every precise detail of that day, the smell of the breeze, the fact that I cut my left cheek shaving, what I ate for breakfast, exactly what I was wearing. I still miss that shirt.

It later seemed to be a deeply foolish decision, one that has never left me. There are times when I have imagined that if only I had the gift of an equally vivid images of what was to come, of the future my poor choice would produce, I would have chosen very differently.

There are at least three ways this is, as they say, all kinds of wrong.

First, such a concept is impossible to begin with. As much as I love time travel shows, like Doctor Who, I must begrudgingly accept the paradox of settling a consequence prior to the decision that brought it about.

Second, even if I were to assume the inevitability of my pain and loss, and I had chosen differently on that day, the same results would still likely have come forth, in however different a manner. I was foolishly committed to someone who was not committed to me. It would have ended much the same, a month, a year, or a decade later. I need to count my blessings on the decade part.

Third, and most importantly, all these imaginings and speculations entirely miss the point of the nature of life, and here is where Seneca's Stoic attitude kicks in. All this time, with all these musings, I have been measuring myself by my circumstances. Could I not make the Stoic Turn, and measure myself by what is truly within my power?

Whether I can or cannot know the future, the things that will happen, the only thing that really matters as a measure if my life is what I choose to do in the face of what has happened, is happening, or will happen.  That is within my power, and the source of my happiness.

In hindsight, despite all the pain, I still think I made the right choice. I loved her, and I wanted to dedicate my life to her. Whether she felt that way or not wasn't up to me, but following my own conscience was up to me.  I learned long ago that there should be no blame of others, only accountability for oneself.

There are indeed times when we see that an effect will be inevitable, or nearly so. I was once thrown into the air after being hit by a truck, and as time seemed to slow down, I knew I was going to hit the approaching pavement. It was going to happen, and it did. Now all I could do was decide what I was going to do with that condition. I braced myself, and expected the pain, but I also prepared myself, and asked myself what I would do with this. That was the only question that mattered.

Seneca is reminding us that liberal education has no room for astrology, or any of the others pseudo-sciences we may still embrace. Genuine education and formation will strengthen the soul, and will give us the freedom, as he says, to 'make the most of it'. The only learning that will ever matter one bit is one that makes me my own master.

Written 1/2010