Seneca, Moral Letters 17.6

"But," you say, "I shall lack the necessities of life." 

 

In the first place, you cannot lack them; because nature demands but little, and the wise man suits his needs to nature. But if the utmost pinch of need arrives, he will quickly take leave of life and cease being a trouble to himself. 

 

If, however, his means of existence are meagre and scanty, he will make the best of them, without being anxious or worried about anything more than the bare necessities; he will do justice to his belly and his shoulders; with free and happy spirit he will laugh at the bustling of rich men, and the flurried ways of those who are hastening after wealth, and say: 

 

"Why of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future? Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you can be rich here and now? Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, and pays it over to those in whose eyes she has made wealth superfluous." 

 

These remarks refer to other men; you are nearer the rich class. Change the age in which you live, and you have too much. But in every age, what is enough remains the same.

 

Let me be very careful about what I consider to be necessary for a good life. If I succumb to my pride, then I will want very much, but if I follow my nature, then I will need very little. 

 

It’s hard for me to appeal to a “simple life”, when the very term is now associated with a television show about spoiled heiresses. I can’t explain how I am refreshed by living in the woods, when the concept of camping now involves renting a luxury cabin, complete with a jacuzzi. 

 

My words will, in any event, just sound like bitterness and bravado to most, so I learn to keep them to myself. After all, one of the things a good life most certainly does not need is the winning of popularity contests. 

 

With the right end in mind, remembering only that peace demands thinking and acting according to an informed conscience, I can then slowly whittle away at all the things I had taken as requirements for happiness. It is remarkable to see how powerful and beautiful a human soul can be when it is stripped of its many accessories and diversions, leaving just the pure capacity to practice understanding and choice.

 

But what will happen when the body is overwhelmed by hunger, the elements, disease, or violence? Then the soul will be relieved of its duties, able to be content with a job well done. The inner character, the ultimate necessity, will still have stood its ground. 

 

Whatever is provided by fortune, whether it be plenty or poverty, pleasure or pain, is always a sufficient opportunity for a person to be decent and caring. I worry too much about what is received, instead of focusing more on what I can give of myself, under any conceivable sorts of circumstances. 

 

Committed to the Stoic Turn, it is therefore possible to pass through life without the crippling anxiety, and instead of feeling resentment for those who seek money and fame, one can instead feel compassion for them. Look how they are eagerly expecting something brilliant to come their way, right around the corner, while they smother their own brilliance. They don’t know where to dig for the real treasure. 

 

I often hear how we have it so much better now than we ever did, all because we now depend on so many more comforts and conveniences. Now it may be true that the selfish man will have ever increasing wants, but the needs of the good man will never change. 

Written in 7/2012