Seneca, Moral Letters 15.5

You see, I have relieved you of no slight bother; and I shall throw in a little complementary present—it is Greek, too. Here is the proverb; it is an excellent one: 

 

"The fool's life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future." 

 

"Who uttered these words?" you say. The same writer whom I mentioned before. 

 

And what sort of life do you think is meant by the fool's life? That of Baba and Isio? 

 

No; he means our own, for we are plunged by our blind desires into ventures which will harm us, but certainly will never satisfy us; for if we could be satisfied with anything, we should have been satisfied long ago; nor do we reflect how pleasant it is to demand nothing, how noble it is to be contented and not to be dependent upon Fortune.

 

How will Epicurus be helpful for this letter? He can confirm that the wise man, even if he speaks from another tradition, is happy to simply be himself, right here and right now, and does not make any demands about what may still come to him. 

 

I noticed from an early age how those who embrace wickedness may have great power, or the finest possessions, or a whole troop of followers, and yet they are always longing for something else, and they are always anxious about what goes on around them. They are dissatisfied because they do not possess themselves, and they are worried because they are still looking forward to some prize they fear they will never win. 

 

Let me be careful not to point a finger and laugh at all the fools, lest I become the fool myself. Good jesters, like Baba and Isio, have an uncanny knack for drawing attention to our own failings. I shouldn’t think that just because I am less efficient at playing the tyrant, such intentions are not still in my heart. 

 

Always reaching for more and feeling restless about what will be around the corner turn out to be a miserable way to live. Nothing beyond my own character can make me any promises, and there are no guarantees about the circumstances of tomorrow. 

 

Having such high hopes for the body, and all the gratification we think it will bring us if it is strong and attractive enough, will far too easily lead to a neglect of the soul, for which I can be grateful at this moment, and which is not bound to any expectations for the future. 

 

I’m afraid I misunderstood when people told me to appreciate what I already had, and so I felt resentful, since I looked around me and didn’t think I had all that much. The mistake was in looking outside instead of inside. That may seem obvious after making a Stoic Turn, though it seems ridiculous before such a fundamental shift in attitude. 

 

To be someone good I can be content with anything else, and to be happy with myself I need ask for nothing else. The conditions don’t give meaning to the man, but the man makes any conditions meaningful. 

Written in 7/2012

IMAGE: Anonymous Dutch, The Laughing Jester (15th century)