Seneca, On Peace of Mind 4.4

Suppose that he has lost the status of a citizen; then let him exercise that of a man.

Our reason for magnanimously refusing to confine ourselves within the walls of one city, for having gone forth to enjoy intercourse with all lands and for professing ourselves to be citizens of the world, is that we may thus obtain a wider theater in which to display our virtue.

Is the bench of judges closed to you, are you forbidden to address the people from the hustings, or to be a candidate at elections? Then turn your eyes away from Rome, and see what a wide extent of territory, what a number of nations present themselves before you.

Yes, imagine that they have taken away our property, our right to vote, our freedom to associate with whomever we please, or the chance to speak our minds. Many people would now tell me that we have been denied our very humanity.

I fear that some, the ones who measure themselves by what they receive, may see this as offensive, but our humanity remains completely intact. Only how people treat us has changed, not who we are, or what we decide to do.

And, for that matter, the way they may treat us gives us all the chance to be even more human. Turn the tables on the bullies and the bureaucrats, the petty tyrants and the smug ideologues. Live in precisely the opposite way they ask you to, and you are still as free as you ever were, perhaps better than you ever were.

Stoic Lesson 101 redux: Your dignity is not in what they do to you. It is in what you do.

I have seen the arbitrary, thoughtless, and uncaring ways a system, most any system at all, may try to make someone a slave. There is no mystery about confronting that, because I can actually choose not to be a slave. My mind and will can remain free. I may be hindered in body by chains, or by bleeding for the taxman, or by being shunned in my church, but that doesn’t actually hurt me.

The problem with any system built upon force and threats is that it looks to obeying rules, not to loving people. It looks to an obedience divorced from Nature. It glories in the ideal instead of facing the real. It kills some for the sake of others.

So the Stoic must be cosmopolitan. He treats all with respect, wherever they came from, or whatever they might have. He looks beyond tribes, and he thinks beyond borders. He recognizes what is human in everyone, and denies it to no one.

Unlike what some privileged folks might tell you, you don’t need to move to another country in protest. You don’t need to bask in the glory of your self-righteousness. Have they kicked you out? Then quietly be virtuous in your new home. Have they kept you where you are? Then quietly be virtuous in your old home. It makes no difference. Be kind, loving, and decent, wherever you are, in whatever state you find yourself.

That will only seem ridiculous to me if I have no clue about what constitutes a good life. If I want to be happy, I won’t let the circumstances rule me. Be a man if they won’t let you be a citizen.

Written in 7/2011

IMAGE: Rome, walking the Appian Way