You may be sure that this refractory nature, which demands much toil, has been implanted in us. There are obstacles in our path; so let us fight, and call to our assistance some helpers.
"Whom," you say, "shall I call upon? Shall it be this man or that?"
There is another choice also open to you; you may go to the ancients; for they have the time to help you. We can get assistance not only from the living, but from those of the past.
Let us choose, however, from among the living, not men who pour forth their words with the greatest glibness, turning out commonplaces and holding. as it were, their own little private exhibitions—not these, I say, but men who teach us by their lives, men who tell us what we ought to do and then prove it by practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid.
Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak. Of course, I would not prevent you from listening also to those philosophers who are wont to hold public meetings and discussions, provided they appear before the people for the express purpose of improving themselves and others, and do not practice their profession for the sake of self-seeking.
"Whom," you say, "shall I call upon? Shall it be this man or that?"
There is another choice also open to you; you may go to the ancients; for they have the time to help you. We can get assistance not only from the living, but from those of the past.
Let us choose, however, from among the living, not men who pour forth their words with the greatest glibness, turning out commonplaces and holding. as it were, their own little private exhibitions—not these, I say, but men who teach us by their lives, men who tell us what we ought to do and then prove it by practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid.
Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak. Of course, I would not prevent you from listening also to those philosophers who are wont to hold public meetings and discussions, provided they appear before the people for the express purpose of improving themselves and others, and do not practice their profession for the sake of self-seeking.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 52
If I know I am not up to the task on my own, who can I turn to for aid in taming my stubbornness?
I forget far too readily that there are so many good people in this world, and that it is ultimately the content of character that makes for the best teachers. I run into trouble finding them, however, because I am more interested in the style than in the substance, and so I am lured in by all the wrong qualities. I need to look with different eyes; decent folks don’t feel the need to market themselves.
If I am still having difficulty, I should not neglect appealing to those from the past. In the current fashion of progress, it is assumed that newer is always better, when I should only be concerned with better being better, regardless of the time or the place. Wisdom is perennial, and it tends to have a patina instead of being shiny.
The example of a dead philosopher can help me to then recognize the excellence of a living one, and thus I learn to respect principled actions over fanciful words. What the celebrities have in common should be obvious from the very name we give them, for they are concerned with putting on a show and thereby winning acclaim.
Do not be deceived into thinking that the brooding academics or the edgy poets are necessarily worthier than the slick politicians or the garish rock stars, for they too are trying to sell you an image. If you doubt this, look only to the way they speak of righteousness but then chase after fortune and fame.
If I want to become faithful and temperate, I should not sit at the feet of adulterers and drunkards. While the talking is all well and good, the meat of the matter is in the doing.
—Reflection written in 4/2013
IMAGE: Jusepe de Ribera, A Philosopher (c. 1630)
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