The soul is not to be pampered; surrendering to pleasure means also surrendering to pain, surrendering to toil, surrendering to poverty.
Both ambition and anger will wish to have the same rights over me as pleasure, and I shall be torn asunder, or rather pulled to pieces, amid all these conflicting passions.
I have set freedom before my eyes; and I am striving for that reward. And what is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms.
And on the day when I know that I have the upper hand, her power will be naught. When I have death in my own control, shall I take orders from her?
Both ambition and anger will wish to have the same rights over me as pleasure, and I shall be torn asunder, or rather pulled to pieces, amid all these conflicting passions.
I have set freedom before my eyes; and I am striving for that reward. And what is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms.
And on the day when I know that I have the upper hand, her power will be naught. When I have death in my own control, shall I take orders from her?
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 51
Just as the fool paradoxically seeks to be free by enslaving himself to what is outside of his control, so he also believes that he can submit to one passion while avoiding any of the others. He wishes to pick and choose, to have it both ways, oblivious to the fact that once the door is opened to pleasure, it will inevitably be accompanied by pain. He laughs at one moment, and then suddenly weeps at the next.
As soon as I crave gratification above all else, I am setting myself up for disappointment, and so I will then be further consumed by anger and envy. Before I know it, my head and my heart are being led around by my gut, and I am left with the constant anxiety of shifting and conflicting emotions.
The whole mess can be avoided by placing my impressions in the service of my judgments, and thereby taming the appetites with the counsel of the virtues. One of the great insights of the Stoic Turn is the discovery of how the best feelings proceed from the best actions.
Fortune makes many promises about what we might “get”, and the way to resist her wiles is to remember why life is never about “getting” anything at all. Once I realize she has nothing I need, I have begun to approach true liberty, where neither an enticement nor a threat can compromise my inner worth.
You say I can have luxury, or influence, or fame? What does that have to do with me? I know my purpose, and I am able to distinguish my principles from my preferences.
You say you will leave me poor and forgotten? However unpleasant, these do not diminish my excellence as a man, so I will bear them with dignity.
Death? I will not fear it, if I know what life is about.
Just as the fool paradoxically seeks to be free by enslaving himself to what is outside of his control, so he also believes that he can submit to one passion while avoiding any of the others. He wishes to pick and choose, to have it both ways, oblivious to the fact that once the door is opened to pleasure, it will inevitably be accompanied by pain. He laughs at one moment, and then suddenly weeps at the next.
As soon as I crave gratification above all else, I am setting myself up for disappointment, and so I will then be further consumed by anger and envy. Before I know it, my head and my heart are being led around by my gut, and I am left with the constant anxiety of shifting and conflicting emotions.
The whole mess can be avoided by placing my impressions in the service of my judgments, and thereby taming the appetites with the counsel of the virtues. One of the great insights of the Stoic Turn is the discovery of how the best feelings proceed from the best actions.
Fortune makes many promises about what we might “get”, and the way to resist her wiles is to remember why life is never about “getting” anything at all. Once I realize she has nothing I need, I have begun to approach true liberty, where neither an enticement nor a threat can compromise my inner worth.
You say I can have luxury, or influence, or fame? What does that have to do with me? I know my purpose, and I am able to distinguish my principles from my preferences.
You say you will leave me poor and forgotten? However unpleasant, these do not diminish my excellence as a man, so I will bear them with dignity.
Death? I will not fear it, if I know what life is about.
—Reflection written in 4/2013
IMAGE: Titian, Cupid with the Wheel of Time (Love, Fortune, and Death) (c. 1520)
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