But how foolish men are now! They whisper the basest of prayers to Heaven; but if anyone listens, they are silent at once. That which they are unwilling for men to know, they communicate to God.
Do you not think, then, that some such wholesome advice as this could be given you: "Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening"? Farewell.
I have spent most of my adult life around people who take their religion seriously, and I have found that they will rise or fall much like any other people. Some are sincere to the core, and some are the craftiest of players.
Just as the politicians are tempted to say one thing in public and do another in private, so the holy rollers are prone to praying very differently in church than they do behind closed doors. At the root of all such obstacles is a common human weakness, a desperate but doomed attempt to play tricks with Nature and Providence.
In the Apology, Socrates warned us about the danger of trying to appear differently than we really are, of praising virtue to the crowd and then wallowing in vice when no one is looking. We may think that getting found out is the problem, but it goes far deeper than that: even if no one ever knows what the charlatan is up to, he still knows full well that he is a fractured and broken man, and that inner burden will be with him for all his days. The sin itself is already the worst form of punishment.
The cure is in developing a sense of absolute integrity, never hesitating to speak what is true and to act according to what is good, regardless of the audience. To the weak-willed this seems foolhardy, while the man of principle is not afraid, because he does not care about winning or losing points in any game of manipulation.
This all points back to what Seneca means by living to oneself. If I know what I am about, trusting in my own conscience and able to respect myself, I will have little concern for impressing anyone by putting on a show. I will most certainly care deeply for other people, perhaps far more than they might know, but I will not let myself be swept away by their opinions.
If I am the same man, both on the inside and on the outside, then I am in harmony with myself and in harmony with the world around me. I can face myself with pride if I act with conviction, and I can face the world with compassion if I work from the foundation of my character.
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