In our power are will and all operations of the will, and beyond our power are the body, the parts of the body, possessions, parents, brothers, children, country, in a word—those whose society we share.
Where then are we to place “the good”? To what class of things shall we apply it?
“To what is in our power.”
Does it follow then that health and a whole body, and life are not good, nor children, parents, and country?
No one will bear with you if you say that. Let us then transfer the name “good” to this class of things. Is it possible for a man to be happy if he is injured and fails to win good things?
“It is impossible.”
Can he also find the proper way to live with his fellows? No, how is it possible?
For instance, I incline by nature to my true interest. If it is my interest to have a field, it is also my interest to take it away from my neighbor; if it is my interest to have a robe, it is my interest also to steal it from the bath.
This is the source of wars, factions, tyrannies, plots.
—from Epictetus, Discourses 1.22
If the primary conception is to be applied in specific practice, then I must seek out the distinct natures within things, and how the purpose of each plays a role in the totality of Nature. Like a stubborn man who refuses to accept directions, I will be driving around in circles until I take the time to get my bearings.
If I choose to plant a tree in my yard, all the best intentions in the world will not make it grow. How much light or shade does it need to prosper? Should I give it more or less water? Is it best to prune it back at certain times, or to let its branches grow freely?
The gardener has to learn his craft, by becoming familiar with the nature of his plants, just as every man has to learn to be good, by becoming familiar with the workings of his own nature.
Perhaps we will all nod in agreement, and then mumble some hazy platitudes about how great it is to be “nice”. I’m afraid that won’t be enough, and we are rather called to rolling up our sleeves, breaking a sweat, and getting our hands dirty.
With all the effort required to pursue a professional career, for example, we can hardly think that the task of being human demands any less. Furthermore, the answers we find may not be as convenient as we might have thought.
Once I begin to examine the source of the good within my own nature, I may be surprised at how little the answers fit with most of what I have been taught over the years.
The “important” people tell me I should constantly acquire more property and improve my reputation. In contrast, Nature is urging me to cultivate wisdom and increase my virtues. I have grown accustomed to the caricature of man as a creature of profit and consumption, while I have overlooked the essence of man as a creature made for understanding and love.
There is no great mystery to it, and all that is required is a reflection upon oneself: the distinctive identity of a human being is the power of reason and of will. Where those powers are perfected, all other conditions become secondary. Now why do I continue to care so much for trinkets, while my soul decays?
When I apply these insights to daily living, I will be at odds with many popular assumptions. Tell your friends about how you care more for refining your conscience than you do for extending your life, and they will look at you funny. Express your conviction that compassion outweighs money, and they will slowly back away. Sell all that you possess to commit a single act of charity, and they will try to lock you up.
What is the crucial difference? Some look to what they can do for happiness, while others look to what happens to them or happiness. The one makes you appear the freak, the other gets you a membership at the club.
Pardon my French, but who has the balls to be the freak? The pressure to conform is a root of our tendency to vice, the desire to be coddled is a cause of our mediocrity.
Epictetus hits it right on the mark here. Once I have a hunch about the best way to live, that will fly in the face of fashion. Am I willing to say that I am indifferent to my circumstances? I should expect to be a pariah. Can I bear the cost? Only if I truly know what’s best for me.
Otherwise, I will fold to the pressure. I will deny the good in my soul, and I will revert to the habits of playing the usual game. There’s the rub.
Where I twist the good into a demand for what isn’t rightly mine, instead of a contentment with what is properly mine, I am no better than an Agamemnon or an Achilles. People want to take from others, and they think it right to force and to seize. They are mistaken—happiness is about being at peace with oneself.
No man who lusts for a worldly profit can ever be a good man. He defines himself by his power over another, when he ought to worry about his self-mastery. Whether he uses stealth or force, whether he is a thief or a robber, he has sold himself out.
Where do all these conflicts and wars come from? From the sum of individuals who have abandoned their own natures, and so have rejected the harmony of Nature. They have done so because they refuse to stand up to wicked men, because they confuse virtue with utility.
Every social ill arises from many millions of small personal choices to care for externals.
—Reflection written in 3/2001
IMAGE: Eugene Delacroix, The Horse Thieves (c, 1840)
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