Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone; its light shines for all. Socrates was no aristocrat. Cleanthes worked at a well and served as a hired man watering a garden. Philosophy did not find Plato already a nobleman; it made him one.
Why then should you despair of becoming able to rank with men like these? They are all your ancestors, if you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of them; and you will do so if you convince yourself at the outset that no man outdoes you in real nobility.
We have all had the same number of forefathers; there is no man whose first beginning does not transcend memory.
Plato says: "Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors."
The flight of time, with its vicissitudes, has jumbled all such things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down.
Why then should you despair of becoming able to rank with men like these? They are all your ancestors, if you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of them; and you will do so if you convince yourself at the outset that no man outdoes you in real nobility.
We have all had the same number of forefathers; there is no man whose first beginning does not transcend memory.
Plato says: "Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors."
The flight of time, with its vicissitudes, has jumbled all such things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 44
When I am so deeply concerned about my reputation and possessions, I betray a serious disorder in my priorities. While the most desirable careers call for the most prestigious qualifications, there are no formal requirements for being a philosopher, and so to grow into a good man, and so to become a happy man.
Philosophy does not care about bank accounts, or a list of titles, or membership in a club. She cares about the decency in your soul.
It’s funny how the bigwigs might speak reverently about Socrates or Plato, but they would brush aside such men if they actually met them in real life. Imagine if an eccentric old man on the subway started questioning them about truth and beauty, of if the janitor in the office building offered them advice on integrity in their business ventures.
There must be a total transformation of values before the best kind of people can be recognized, before the vanities can be swept aside.
So do I wish to noble by class or noble by character? I can’t live with conflicting goals. Might I still pursue an increase in my position as a preference, without compromising my deeper principles? Perhaps, though how much time and effort I am committing to each will reveal my true colors.
Most of my old college chums spend the whole day pushing paper to increase their profits, without a thought to increase their kindness.
If you must ask me about my heritage, I can only say that I am trying to follow in the long line of people who discerned the virtues as their highest goods. Try offering such a reply the next time someone at a cocktail party asks you “And what do you do?” You may not get a promotion, yet you will find peace of mind.
They tell me that any person can ultimately find a king or a queen as an ancestor, and so by extension even the most pompous mogul is descended from a street sweeper or a town drunk.
Careful, our family trees aren’t as pretty as we’d like then to be, and that’s quite all right, since the one measure that counts is what we choose to make of ourselves.
When I am so deeply concerned about my reputation and possessions, I betray a serious disorder in my priorities. While the most desirable careers call for the most prestigious qualifications, there are no formal requirements for being a philosopher, and so to grow into a good man, and so to become a happy man.
Philosophy does not care about bank accounts, or a list of titles, or membership in a club. She cares about the decency in your soul.
It’s funny how the bigwigs might speak reverently about Socrates or Plato, but they would brush aside such men if they actually met them in real life. Imagine if an eccentric old man on the subway started questioning them about truth and beauty, of if the janitor in the office building offered them advice on integrity in their business ventures.
There must be a total transformation of values before the best kind of people can be recognized, before the vanities can be swept aside.
So do I wish to noble by class or noble by character? I can’t live with conflicting goals. Might I still pursue an increase in my position as a preference, without compromising my deeper principles? Perhaps, though how much time and effort I am committing to each will reveal my true colors.
Most of my old college chums spend the whole day pushing paper to increase their profits, without a thought to increase their kindness.
If you must ask me about my heritage, I can only say that I am trying to follow in the long line of people who discerned the virtues as their highest goods. Try offering such a reply the next time someone at a cocktail party asks you “And what do you do?” You may not get a promotion, yet you will find peace of mind.
They tell me that any person can ultimately find a king or a queen as an ancestor, and so by extension even the most pompous mogul is descended from a street sweeper or a town drunk.
Careful, our family trees aren’t as pretty as we’d like then to be, and that’s quite all right, since the one measure that counts is what we choose to make of ourselves.
—Reflection written in 2/2013
IMAGE: Jusepe de Ribera, A Philosopher (1637)
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