Seneca, Moral Letters 14.10

However, we shall consider later whether the wise man ought to give his attention to politics; meanwhile, I beg you to consider those Stoics who, shut out from public life, have withdrawn into privacy for the purpose of improving men's existence and framing laws for the human race without incurring the displeasure of those in power. 

 

The wise man will not upset the customs of the people, nor will he invite the attention of the populace by any novel ways of living.

 

Some philosophers, like the Epicureans, have argued for distancing oneself from politics, yet for the Stoics, the very fact that man is a rational animal demands that he also be a social and political animal. 

 

I first learned it from Aristotle, and then later Marcus Aurelius confirmed it for me. We are made to work with one another, though the trick, as Seneca tries to explain, revolves around working in peace and quiet instead of conflict and noise. 

 

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater; don’t run from associations, but rather choose them carefully and nurture them gently. There will be times when we must face the storm, so it is quite unnecessary to make waves in the meantime. 

 

A big part of the problem, I suppose, is how we even use a term like “politics”. Though it’s a crying shame, when most people hear “stoic”, they think of someone cold and unfeeling, and when they hear “political”, they think of backstabbing and corruption. I remind myself to avoid the confusion. To be a Stoic is to live according to Nature, and to be political is to share bonds with your neighbors. If someone chooses to abuse these actions, I should not hold it against the principles. 

 

Yes, to determine how, and to what extent, the Stoic should engage in public life is a further question, but for the moment it is sufficient to establish that the best people are not usually the ones who are stomping their feet or picking fights. I do not need to be in the public eye to contribute to the public good, and I think it no accident that the kindest and most decent people are most often those who are quite content to do their work without any fanfare. 

 

Am I somehow feeling the need to yell my grievances in someone’s face? Why might I want that? I am deluding myself if I think that this will make either of us any better: I have now acted like a brute, and my chosen opponent now has a reason to resent me. It was really about my pride, not about justice. 

 

Am I itching to fix the world, to break everything down and then to build it up again in my own image? Why might I want that? I am confusing doing right for myself with demanding that everyone else do right by me; I have reached that point where the soldier for justice becomes nothing more than another big bully. I am well advised to let people live as they think best, as much as I am able, and to attend first to fixing myself. 

 

Sowing discord and trying to reinvent the wheel are signs of someone who has latched onto that dirty sense of politics. Don’t be that guy. 

Written in 6/2012