There is no reason why poverty should call us away from philosophy—no, nor even actual want. For when hastening after wisdom, we must endure even hunger. Men have endured hunger when their towns were besieged, and what other reward for their endurance did they obtain than that they did not fall under the conqueror's power?
How much greater is the promise of the prize of everlasting liberty, and the assurance that we need fear neither God nor man!
Even though we starve, we must reach that goal. Armies have endured all manner of want, have lived on roots, and have resisted hunger by means of food too revolting to mention. All this they have suffered to gain a kingdom, and—what is more marvelous—to gain a kingdom that will be another's.
Will any man hesitate to endure poverty, in order that he may free his mind from madness?
There will be no need to seek out discomfort, poverty, or hunger for their own sake, but only a willingness to accept discomfort, poverty, or hunger for the sake of wisdom and virtue. It is not that life should deliberately be made any more difficult, but rather that hardships on the outside should be gladly endured to form a peace on the inside. An indifference to the lesser is required for a proper attention to the greater.
The youngest of us sometimes put it in the best possible ways, as when a middle school student expressed it as follows: “Eat well when you can, but never do anything wrong in order to eat.”
Such thoughts will often elicit snorts of derision from those who measure the world by their wallets and their bellies. “So you’d have me starve to make some kind of point? Where’s the good in it if I’m dead?”
I would never choose for you, though you could freely choose to understand for yourself how the way a man goes about dying is a very part of the way he goes about living. The good in it will be in following the nature of a human being, not merely that of a beast.
You will make a choice, when push comes to shove, whether the priority is in your survival or in your character; you will decide, sooner or later, if the goal should be utility or integrity.
I do not have to feel bitterness or resentment if I suffer a worldly hardship, because the more I grasp why an action is truly fulfilling, the more I will be happy to face any obstacle to achieve it. This is where philosophy gives me the strength of my convictions.
I have been ever so eager to achieve recognition, or to earn the reward of money, or to win the affections of a beloved, and yet if I dedicated all that energy and endurance to improving the habits of my own soul, I could stroll through my life without worrying about whatever the world may or may not do for me. There is no use in fortitude without being brave for the right reasons.
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