Seneca, On the Happy Life 7: Follow Nature

. . . Meanwhile I follow Nature, which is a point upon which every one of the Stoic philosophers are agreed: true wisdom consists in not departing from Nature and in molding our conduct according to her laws and model.

A happy life, therefore, is one which is in accordance with its own nature, and cannot be brought about unless in the first place the mind be sound and remain so without interruption, and next, be bold and vigorous, enduring all things with most admirable courage, suited to the times in which it lives, careful of the body and its accessories, yet not troublesomely careful.

It must also set due value upon all the things which adorn our lives, without over-estimating any one of them, and must be able to enjoy the bounty of Fortune without becoming her slave.

You understand without my mentioning it that an unbroken calm and freedom ensue, when we have driven away all those things which either excite us or alarm us: for in the place of sensual pleasures and those slight perishable matters which are connected with the basest crimes, we thus gain an immense, unchangeable, equable joy, together with peace, calmness and greatness of mind, and kindliness: for all savagery is a sign of weakness.

—Seneca the Younger, On the happy life, Chapter 3 (tr Stewart)

Now surely this appeal to Nature seems to be the perfect cop-out. Whatever could that possibly mean? We live in a time where metaphysics is about crystals and past lives, where ethics is about the whims of social propriety, and where happiness is just about feeling good about ourselves. Nature becomes an all-inclusive term for whatever we happen to want at the moment.

The Ancients in general, and the Stoics in particular, were far more specific in this regard; they understood Nature not as a vague idea, but as a clearly defined principle. Aristotle was never the most poetic of philosophers, but he explained it as follows in Book II of the Physics:

Nature is a source or cause of being moved and of being at rest, in that to which it belongs primarily, in virtue of itself, and not in virtue of another.

The nature of anything is simply what it does according to its very identity. A heavy thing, by nature, will fall, and a light thing, by nature, will rise. A plant will grow, an animal will sense, and a man will think.

There is no deep mystery here, no obscurity, and no speaking in tongues. Ask yourself what it means to be a human being, and then consider what such a being does to complete itself. A man is composed of matter, as all sensible things are. He has a principle of nutrition, growth, and reproduction, as all living things do. Finally, he has a mind and the power of free choice, which allow him to understand his world and his own actions, and to determine his actions for himself. Now that which is more complete is greater than what which is less complete, and it is more complete for anything to rule itself than to be ruled.

No hemming and hawing is required. It is immediately clear that a man is not the sum of his accidents, but rather the fulfillment of his essence. I was never put on this Earth to be determined by what is outside of myself, but to determine, by my own judgment, how I will make something of myself.

However much I feel pleasure or pain, that is not the life of a man, but the life of a beast.

However much I possess or do not possess, that is not the life of a man, but the life of an accountant’s ledger.

However much I am loved or despised, that is not the life of a man, but the life of an opinion poll.

Yet once I possess a clear understanding of the good inherent in all things, and I have acted with that knowledge, I am now a man. My humanity is intact.

This requires a willingness to see things as they are in themselves, and not as I would want them to be. It requires a willingness to act for the sake of both myself and others, not for my sake at the expense of others. It requires seeing my own nature as part of all things, of all of Nature, and not seeing myself as being above all things.

The soundness of my mind is wisdom. The soundness of my choices is courage. The soundness of my passions is temperance. The soundness of my respect for others is justice.

Happiness is not the pleasure that comes from conquest or gratification, but the joy that proceeds from thinking and acting with Nature, and never acting against it. That is freedom, that is contentment, and that is peace.

I am not, by my own nature, a savage beast, but a person, one whose very nature tells him how he must live. I must choose to consider all of Fortune rightly, and never allow Fortune to rule me. 

Written in 10/1999

Image: Maarten van Heemskerck, Allegory of Nature (1567)