"Is this the path to Heaven?"
For that is exactly what philosophy promises to me, that I shall be made equal to God. For this I have been summoned, for this purpose have I come. Philosophy, keep your promise!
Therefore, my dear Lucilius, withdraw yourself as far as possible from these exceptions and objections of so-called philosophers.
Frankness and simplicity beseem true goodness. Even if there were many years left to you, you would have had to spend them frugally in order to have enough for the necessary things; but as it is, when your time is so scant, what madness it is to learn superfluous things! Farewell.
For that is exactly what philosophy promises to me, that I shall be made equal to God. For this I have been summoned, for this purpose have I come. Philosophy, keep your promise!
Therefore, my dear Lucilius, withdraw yourself as far as possible from these exceptions and objections of so-called philosophers.
Frankness and simplicity beseem true goodness. Even if there were many years left to you, you would have had to spend them frugally in order to have enough for the necessary things; but as it is, when your time is so scant, what madness it is to learn superfluous things! Farewell.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 48
I doubt there is a single person on this Earth who has not been plagued by a sense of waste, of having spent far too much time and effort on all the wrong pursuits. Now I can slip into despair, and cry out that there is no hope, or I can make good use of those hard experiences to turn myself around, before it really is too late.
I have squandered enough on gratifying the flesh, and I have gradually permitted vanities to rot the spirit. The whole time, it was an authentic philosophy I needed, because nothing else will ever fall into place if I don’t have my head on straight, if I can’t know where I stand in relation to the whole.
Is Seneca laying it on a bit too thick here? Not at all, for whatever Heaven may be, it will have to be that which leaves nothing else to be desired, and that sort of serenity is only possible when I am fulfilled in the purpose of my nature. Yes, it is Wisdom that points the way.
When they tell me to put on an act, philosophy reminds me to be genuine. When they tell me to seek out praise, philosophy keeps me humble. When they tell me to take whatever I want, philosophy urges me to give whatever I can. If the love of Wisdom rules, all of my standards for victory are radically transformed.
I won’t stay sober in a tavern, and I won’t stay chaste in a brothel, so I can hardly expect to retain my integrity in the company of sophists. A man is known by the company he keeps.
We’d like to imagine we have all the time in the world, when I am barely even assured of the rest of this day. Quibbling over petty pretensions is like a death for the soul, long before the body has given way. Waste no more!
I doubt there is a single person on this Earth who has not been plagued by a sense of waste, of having spent far too much time and effort on all the wrong pursuits. Now I can slip into despair, and cry out that there is no hope, or I can make good use of those hard experiences to turn myself around, before it really is too late.
I have squandered enough on gratifying the flesh, and I have gradually permitted vanities to rot the spirit. The whole time, it was an authentic philosophy I needed, because nothing else will ever fall into place if I don’t have my head on straight, if I can’t know where I stand in relation to the whole.
Is Seneca laying it on a bit too thick here? Not at all, for whatever Heaven may be, it will have to be that which leaves nothing else to be desired, and that sort of serenity is only possible when I am fulfilled in the purpose of my nature. Yes, it is Wisdom that points the way.
When they tell me to put on an act, philosophy reminds me to be genuine. When they tell me to seek out praise, philosophy keeps me humble. When they tell me to take whatever I want, philosophy urges me to give whatever I can. If the love of Wisdom rules, all of my standards for victory are radically transformed.
I won’t stay sober in a tavern, and I won’t stay chaste in a brothel, so I can hardly expect to retain my integrity in the company of sophists. A man is known by the company he keeps.
We’d like to imagine we have all the time in the world, when I am barely even assured of the rest of this day. Quibbling over petty pretensions is like a death for the soul, long before the body has given way. Waste no more!
—Reflection written in 3/2013
IMAGE: Jose del Castillo, Wisdom (c. 1772)
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