Consider this fact also. Those who have never attained their mental independence begin, in the first place, by following the leader in cases where everyone has deserted the leader; then, in the second place, they follow him in matters where the truth is still being investigated.
However, the truth will never be discovered if we rest contented with discoveries already made. Besides, he who follows another not only discovers nothing but is not even investigating.
What then? Shall I not follow in the footsteps of my predecessors? I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find one that makes a shorter cut and is smoother to travel, I shall open the new road.
Men who have made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized. And there is plenty of it left even for posterity to discover. Farewell.
However, the truth will never be discovered if we rest contented with discoveries already made. Besides, he who follows another not only discovers nothing but is not even investigating.
What then? Shall I not follow in the footsteps of my predecessors? I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find one that makes a shorter cut and is smoother to travel, I shall open the new road.
Men who have made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized. And there is plenty of it left even for posterity to discover. Farewell.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 33
When I follow blindly, I have transferred the responsibility for my own thoughts and deeds to someone else, and so my very identity as a creature of reason and will has been compromised. It is no longer that he might be helping me, but now he is taking on the role of being me.
How am I to know if he will show me the right way or the wrong way? If I can’t be sure, do I just follow wherever the crowd is going? Well, then the crowd has become my leader, and I must still ask myself the same question.
How do I know if allegiance will bring me happiness or misery? If I can’t be sure, isn’t it rather reckless to commit to the conclusion without first having established the premises? In any case, it reduces to an authority without any foundation.
The questions suggest their own answers, for knowing is something only I can do for myself, however much I may be pushed or pampered. If I am working from an instinct, it will only be as good as my judgment about its meaning. If I am appealing to trust, then it must have a standard of commitment behind it, something I already know that is pointing me to a faith in what I don’t yet know.
I must remember that I don’t know something simply because I accept a claim presented to me—I know it when I myself can explain the reasons why. Knowledge is tied down, while opinion floats free.
Once more, this does not mean I have to go it alone. Have others already cleared a path? Then I can follow it, as long as I am willing to take the same steps under my own power. Yet if I have discovered a new and better way, and it is firmly grounded in my understanding, I should not shy away from setting out on my own.
Tradition, like every other circumstance in our lives, is as good or as bad as what we choose to make of it.
Furthermore, leading and following are about cooperation, not exploitation. The master and the student, by graciously giving and gratefully receiving, are each doing their own particular work, and are thereby being occasions of virtue for one another.
And yes, politics and business are supposed to be the same way, though you’d hardly know it. We mess it up when we confuse where the true profit lies.
Avoid the company of those who demand submission without question. If they tell you the truth is their own, something they allot to you, it is time to break away and find new mentors. Find those who grasp why all can share in the discovery of truth, while none can ever possess it.
When I follow blindly, I have transferred the responsibility for my own thoughts and deeds to someone else, and so my very identity as a creature of reason and will has been compromised. It is no longer that he might be helping me, but now he is taking on the role of being me.
How am I to know if he will show me the right way or the wrong way? If I can’t be sure, do I just follow wherever the crowd is going? Well, then the crowd has become my leader, and I must still ask myself the same question.
How do I know if allegiance will bring me happiness or misery? If I can’t be sure, isn’t it rather reckless to commit to the conclusion without first having established the premises? In any case, it reduces to an authority without any foundation.
The questions suggest their own answers, for knowing is something only I can do for myself, however much I may be pushed or pampered. If I am working from an instinct, it will only be as good as my judgment about its meaning. If I am appealing to trust, then it must have a standard of commitment behind it, something I already know that is pointing me to a faith in what I don’t yet know.
I must remember that I don’t know something simply because I accept a claim presented to me—I know it when I myself can explain the reasons why. Knowledge is tied down, while opinion floats free.
Once more, this does not mean I have to go it alone. Have others already cleared a path? Then I can follow it, as long as I am willing to take the same steps under my own power. Yet if I have discovered a new and better way, and it is firmly grounded in my understanding, I should not shy away from setting out on my own.
Tradition, like every other circumstance in our lives, is as good or as bad as what we choose to make of it.
Furthermore, leading and following are about cooperation, not exploitation. The master and the student, by graciously giving and gratefully receiving, are each doing their own particular work, and are thereby being occasions of virtue for one another.
And yes, politics and business are supposed to be the same way, though you’d hardly know it. We mess it up when we confuse where the true profit lies.
Avoid the company of those who demand submission without question. If they tell you the truth is their own, something they allot to you, it is time to break away and find new mentors. Find those who grasp why all can share in the discovery of truth, while none can ever possess it.
As a means for further self-reflection, the maxim is a wonderful blessing. As a tool for conformity, the maxim is a terrible curse. Will I use it as a key to help me break free, or to lock myself in?
—Reflection written in 12/2012
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