Yet
it is more endurable, as I have said, and easier not to gain property than to
lose it, and therefore you will find that those upon whom Fortune has never
smiled are more cheerful than those whom she has deserted. Diogenes, a man of
infinite spirit, perceived this, and made it impossible that anything should be
taken from him.
Call
this security from loss poverty, want, necessity, or any contemptuous name you
please. I shall consider such a man to be happy, unless you find me another who
can lose nothing. If I am not mistaken, it is a royal attribute among so many
misers, sharpers, and robbers, to be the one man who cannot be injured.
If
anyone doubts the happiness of Diogenes, he would doubt whether the position of
the immortal gods was one of sufficient happiness, because they have no farms
or gardens, no valuable estates let to strange tenants, and no large loans in
the money market.
A
virtuous man will learn to live well, whether he is rich or poor, and a vicious
man will only be consumed by his desires, whether he is rich or poor. It isn’t that
the presence or absence of wealth will determine the quality of character, but that
the presence or absence of character will determine the quality of wealth.
“Wonderful!
So I can be good and rich at the same time! That’s what I wanted to
hear!”
Be
careful. You can be both, but you cannot pursue both equally, as one will have
to be in the service of the other. This is why the Stoics, always treating
property as something indifferent, will advise us to never long for property.
It is precisely because such things are indifferent that they are unable to
take the place of virtue as the highest human good.
Once my
heart is first set on acquiring things outside of me, I am neglecting to nurture
the things inside of me. It is better to not be tempted by riches at all, just
as it is better to never be tempted by pleasure, or honor, or influence.
If I have
committed my life to winning such prizes, my contentment will slowly but surely
depend upon them, and then their loss will only tear me apart, revealing my
self-made vulnerability.
What
should I want most in this world? To increase my moral worth, the excellence of
my actions, not to increase my financial worth, the accidents of my
circumstances. Once I know what to care for, it will make little difference to
me whether Fortune has given me this or taken away that. My estimation changes
everything, because I will not lust after what has no appeal, and I will not cry
over the loss of what I do not love.
Diogenes
may appear quite insane to those who run about in pursuit of money and
reputation, yet he can serve as something of a hero for the Stoic. His radical,
and sometimes shameless, displays will make sense only in the context of his commitment
to the simplicity of Nature. He knew he already possessed everything he needed
within himself, so there was nothing you could entice him with, and nothing you
could take away from him.
What does
it really mean to be perfectly happy? It would be the most complete end, that
which leaves nothing else to be desired, a life no longer tortured by need and
longing. If I can understand that virtue is enough, I can take or leave all the
rest.
Diogenes didn’t
really care about what he wore, or where he slept, or what he ate. These things
were all petty and insignificant compared to the very reason he was alive. In
this sense he was far more divine than the richest man in Athens, because he
was his own master, utterly self-sufficient.
Diogenes
would ask for alms from statues, to grow accustomed to being refused. Many
laughed at him for this, but he had the last laugh. He didn’t need the money to
begin with, though the lovers of money needed their prosperity to feel that
they were important.
Written in 9/2011
IMAGE: Jean-Bernard Restout, Diogenes Asking for Alms (1767)
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