"But how," you ask, "does one attain that goal?"
You do not need to cross the Pennine or Graian hills, or traverse the Candavian waste, or face the Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis, although you have travelled through all these places for the bribe of a petty governorship; the journey for which nature has equipped you is safe and pleasant. She has given you such gifts that you may, if you do not prove false to them, rise level with God.
Your money, however, will not place you on a level with God, for God has no property.
Your bordered robe will not do this, for God is not clad in raiment; nor will your reputation, nor a display of self, nor a knowledge of your name widespread throughout the world; for no one has knowledge of God; many even hold him in low esteem, and do not suffer for so doing.
The throng of slaves which carries your litter along the city streets and in foreign places will not help you; for this God of whom I speak, though the highest and most powerful of beings, carries all things on his own shoulders.
Neither can beauty or strength make you blessed, for none of these qualities can withstand old age.
You do not need to cross the Pennine or Graian hills, or traverse the Candavian waste, or face the Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis, although you have travelled through all these places for the bribe of a petty governorship; the journey for which nature has equipped you is safe and pleasant. She has given you such gifts that you may, if you do not prove false to them, rise level with God.
Your money, however, will not place you on a level with God, for God has no property.
Your bordered robe will not do this, for God is not clad in raiment; nor will your reputation, nor a display of self, nor a knowledge of your name widespread throughout the world; for no one has knowledge of God; many even hold him in low esteem, and do not suffer for so doing.
The throng of slaves which carries your litter along the city streets and in foreign places will not help you; for this God of whom I speak, though the highest and most powerful of beings, carries all things on his own shoulders.
Neither can beauty or strength make you blessed, for none of these qualities can withstand old age.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 31
Even those who are sympathetic to Stoicism will usually object that it demands far too much from the average fellow, or even that it is downright impossible to achieve such a lofty goal. After all, who can be expected to be so indifferent to his worldly security and reputation?
Yet it isn’t that the Stoic doesn’t care about his circumstances, it’s that he cares far more about the content of his character, and he always works to place the former within the context of the latter. In seeking to follow such a route, I have found that the only obstacles to my success are the limitations in my own thinking.
It is as difficult or as easy as I make it for myself, because everything hinges upon the priorities in my judgments. From there, the formation of habits can cement my convictions.
If I choose not to love money, and I can support this conclusion with sound reasoning, I will find that I have no interest in becoming rich or any fear about becoming poor—I can take it or leave it.
It will be the same with fame, or power, or any concern about appearances. I will not practice affectation, since I am not looking to play anyone. My attention is on a very different prize, and so the rest now seems like dust to me. If the politics at the office or the impending mortgage payment are still bringing me so much grief, my responsibility is to deliberately work on my estimation, not to despair of the task.
I have a friend who will go to the ends of the earth to acquire exotic hot sauces. I, on the other hand, will seek out obscure pipe tobaccos. Neither of us were forced into these enthusiasms, and as it is with preferences, so it is also with principles.
There is no need to be inclined toward religion to appreciate what Seneca is saying here: wherever we increase our virtues, we become more perfect in our humanity, and thereby participate more fully in Divinity, that which encompasses the perfection of all things. The little intelligence aspires to the Absolute Intelligence.
God doesn’t rely on a suburban home, designer clothing, or a membership at the exclusive gym, and I should follow His example, on my own limited scale. Where I can calmly look to my self-sufficiency, crossing those mountains no longer seems so burdensome.
Even those who are sympathetic to Stoicism will usually object that it demands far too much from the average fellow, or even that it is downright impossible to achieve such a lofty goal. After all, who can be expected to be so indifferent to his worldly security and reputation?
Yet it isn’t that the Stoic doesn’t care about his circumstances, it’s that he cares far more about the content of his character, and he always works to place the former within the context of the latter. In seeking to follow such a route, I have found that the only obstacles to my success are the limitations in my own thinking.
It is as difficult or as easy as I make it for myself, because everything hinges upon the priorities in my judgments. From there, the formation of habits can cement my convictions.
If I choose not to love money, and I can support this conclusion with sound reasoning, I will find that I have no interest in becoming rich or any fear about becoming poor—I can take it or leave it.
It will be the same with fame, or power, or any concern about appearances. I will not practice affectation, since I am not looking to play anyone. My attention is on a very different prize, and so the rest now seems like dust to me. If the politics at the office or the impending mortgage payment are still bringing me so much grief, my responsibility is to deliberately work on my estimation, not to despair of the task.
I have a friend who will go to the ends of the earth to acquire exotic hot sauces. I, on the other hand, will seek out obscure pipe tobaccos. Neither of us were forced into these enthusiasms, and as it is with preferences, so it is also with principles.
There is no need to be inclined toward religion to appreciate what Seneca is saying here: wherever we increase our virtues, we become more perfect in our humanity, and thereby participate more fully in Divinity, that which encompasses the perfection of all things. The little intelligence aspires to the Absolute Intelligence.
God doesn’t rely on a suburban home, designer clothing, or a membership at the exclusive gym, and I should follow His example, on my own limited scale. Where I can calmly look to my self-sufficiency, crossing those mountains no longer seems so burdensome.
—Reflection written in 12/2012
IMAGE: Sidney Richard Percy, The Mountain Pass (1872)
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