Either give your opinion, or, as is easier in cases of this kind, declare that the matter is not clear and call for another hearing.
But you will reply: "What pleasure do you get from wasting your time on these problems, which relieve you of none of your emotions, rout none of your desires?"
So far as I am concerned, I treat and discuss them as matters which contribute greatly toward calming the spirit, and I search myself first, and then the world about me.
And not even now am I, as you think, wasting my time. For all these questions, provided that they be not chopped up and torn apart into such unprofitable refinements, elevate and lighten the soul, which is weighted down by a heavy burden and desires to be freed and to return to the elements of which it was once a part.
For this body of ours is a weight upon the soul and its penance; as the load presses down the soul is crushed and is in bondage, unless philosophy has come to its assistance and has bid it take fresh courage by contemplating the Universe, and has turned it from things earthly to things divine. There it has its liberty, there it can roam abroad; meantime it escapes the custody in which it is bound, and renews its life in heaven.
But you will reply: "What pleasure do you get from wasting your time on these problems, which relieve you of none of your emotions, rout none of your desires?"
So far as I am concerned, I treat and discuss them as matters which contribute greatly toward calming the spirit, and I search myself first, and then the world about me.
And not even now am I, as you think, wasting my time. For all these questions, provided that they be not chopped up and torn apart into such unprofitable refinements, elevate and lighten the soul, which is weighted down by a heavy burden and desires to be freed and to return to the elements of which it was once a part.
For this body of ours is a weight upon the soul and its penance; as the load presses down the soul is crushed and is in bondage, unless philosophy has come to its assistance and has bid it take fresh courage by contemplating the Universe, and has turned it from things earthly to things divine. There it has its liberty, there it can roam abroad; meantime it escapes the custody in which it is bound, and renews its life in heaven.
Just as skilled workmen, who have been engaged upon some delicate piece of work which wearies their eyes with straining, if the light which they have is niggardly or uncertain, go forth into the open air and in some park devoted to the people's recreation delight their eyes in the generous light of day; so the soul, imprisoned as it has been in this gloomy and darkened house, seeks the open sky whenever it can, and in the contemplation of the Universe finds rest.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 65
I no longer take offense when someone tells me how philosophy is a waste of time, because they have not yet considered how the exercise of thought is at the root of all liberation. Yes, the abstraction can at first feel dizzying, like becoming accustomed to mountain air, and there may be some pain, like finally using a muscle after years of neglect.
We all feel within us a yearning for something better, even as we struggle to define it. The first instinct is to reach outwards, to the gratification from objects of sense. It will take some time to recognize why the power of self-reflection is the key to self-mastery. Beyond the circumstances, behind the body, the soul waits to be nurtured.
I fear that we complain about the many burdens of this world, and we are, in a sense, quite right to be dissatisfied with petty drudgery for the sake of winning cheap trinkets. We then make the unfortunate error, however, of just grasping for a slightly different set of diversions, believing that they will surely be different.
No, the trick is in starting fresh from a whole new set of values, in rebuilding our lives from the inside out. The integrity of our own thoughts and deeds is what counts, not any new arrangement to the deck chairs, and this can only become possible when we focus on our powers of reason and choice, the very core of our human identity.
Now some will tell you that you are “thinking too much”, though I like to suggest that the problem is not in the quantity, but rather in the quality of the thinking. Intellectual posturing and specious quibbling are the marks of those who wish to appear important instead of being worthy, so have compassion on the sophists, for they do not know what they do. Anxiety, insecurity, and resentment will twist our judgments into sad excuses for accountability and commitment.
When life gets me down, it is time for me to remember that I am really just getting myself down. My worries are the consequence of lacking a wider perspective, and for this I must strive to raise myself up. As the mind elevates itself to what is lasting and certain, my frustrations are now left far below.
Fresh air and sunlight are good for the body, just as the serenity that comes from contemplation is good for the soul. Searching for the cause, the answer to the question of “Why?”, is not a mere escape from the world—it is finally a genuine awareness of that world. Remove the blinders.
We all feel within us a yearning for something better, even as we struggle to define it. The first instinct is to reach outwards, to the gratification from objects of sense. It will take some time to recognize why the power of self-reflection is the key to self-mastery. Beyond the circumstances, behind the body, the soul waits to be nurtured.
I fear that we complain about the many burdens of this world, and we are, in a sense, quite right to be dissatisfied with petty drudgery for the sake of winning cheap trinkets. We then make the unfortunate error, however, of just grasping for a slightly different set of diversions, believing that they will surely be different.
No, the trick is in starting fresh from a whole new set of values, in rebuilding our lives from the inside out. The integrity of our own thoughts and deeds is what counts, not any new arrangement to the deck chairs, and this can only become possible when we focus on our powers of reason and choice, the very core of our human identity.
Now some will tell you that you are “thinking too much”, though I like to suggest that the problem is not in the quantity, but rather in the quality of the thinking. Intellectual posturing and specious quibbling are the marks of those who wish to appear important instead of being worthy, so have compassion on the sophists, for they do not know what they do. Anxiety, insecurity, and resentment will twist our judgments into sad excuses for accountability and commitment.
When life gets me down, it is time for me to remember that I am really just getting myself down. My worries are the consequence of lacking a wider perspective, and for this I must strive to raise myself up. As the mind elevates itself to what is lasting and certain, my frustrations are now left far below.
Fresh air and sunlight are good for the body, just as the serenity that comes from contemplation is good for the soul. Searching for the cause, the answer to the question of “Why?”, is not a mere escape from the world—it is finally a genuine awareness of that world. Remove the blinders.
—Reflection written in 7/2013
IMAGE: Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, The Soul Breaking the Ties That Bind It to Earth (1823)
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