There is only one thing for you to remember, that is, the distinction between what is yours and what is not yours. Never lay claim to anything that is not your own.
Tribunal and prison are distinct places, one high, the other low; but your will, if you choose to keep it the same in both, may be kept the same.
So we shall emulate Socrates, but only when we can write songs of triumph in prison. As for our condition up until now, I doubt whether we should have borne with one who should say to us in prison, “Would you like me to recite to you songs of triumph?”
“Why do you trouble me? Do you not know the ills which beset me? For this is my state.”
What is it?
“I am at the point of death.”
Yes, but are other men going to be immortal?
Tribunal and prison are distinct places, one high, the other low; but your will, if you choose to keep it the same in both, may be kept the same.
So we shall emulate Socrates, but only when we can write songs of triumph in prison. As for our condition up until now, I doubt whether we should have borne with one who should say to us in prison, “Would you like me to recite to you songs of triumph?”
“Why do you trouble me? Do you not know the ills which beset me? For this is my state.”
What is it?
“I am at the point of death.”
Yes, but are other men going to be immortal?
—from Epictetus, Discourses 2.6
I know folks grow tired of hearing me say it, but I remain convinced of a profound insight from Plato’s Republic, that justice is nothing more than minding our own business. If I only look honestly, I will find that every single problem of my life has ultimately been reducible to the fact that I was demanding more than was rightfully mine, which was itself a symptom of failing to recognize the complete power for good already existing within me.
I may still have those pangs of envy when I hear my old schoolmates bragging about their ever so successful lives, while I worry about how I will pay for the groceries this week, and then I remember: their prosperity is not really who they are, just as my poverty is not really who I am. What will truly define us, for better or for worse, is the content of character, whatever the circumstances might be.
The true victory will come from living with virtue in exactly the same way, whether I happen to be a tribune or a prisoner, a CEO or a man sleeping on the streets. While this may sound absurd to most anyone, both the haves and the have-nots, this is only because we remain so obsessed with having instead of doing, with receiving instead of giving. Reflect upon our human identity, and you will appreciate why happiness is in the acts of understanding and of love, which are always ours to control. The rest is merely window dressing.
For all the talk, the real test will come when these are more than words, and I don’t simply praise Socrates from the comfort of my armchair. A triumph in prison? Yes, it is certainly possible, but it will only come to me when I perceive every luxury or hardship as being one and the same, as an opportunity to live with an informed conscience. Judging with indifference properly means realizing why nothing else matters.
Whether it comes sooner or later, none of us leave this life in possession of the fortune and fame we foolishly believe to be our own. In the end, the excellence of my thoughts and deeds will be all that can distinguish me.
I know folks grow tired of hearing me say it, but I remain convinced of a profound insight from Plato’s Republic, that justice is nothing more than minding our own business. If I only look honestly, I will find that every single problem of my life has ultimately been reducible to the fact that I was demanding more than was rightfully mine, which was itself a symptom of failing to recognize the complete power for good already existing within me.
I may still have those pangs of envy when I hear my old schoolmates bragging about their ever so successful lives, while I worry about how I will pay for the groceries this week, and then I remember: their prosperity is not really who they are, just as my poverty is not really who I am. What will truly define us, for better or for worse, is the content of character, whatever the circumstances might be.
The true victory will come from living with virtue in exactly the same way, whether I happen to be a tribune or a prisoner, a CEO or a man sleeping on the streets. While this may sound absurd to most anyone, both the haves and the have-nots, this is only because we remain so obsessed with having instead of doing, with receiving instead of giving. Reflect upon our human identity, and you will appreciate why happiness is in the acts of understanding and of love, which are always ours to control. The rest is merely window dressing.
For all the talk, the real test will come when these are more than words, and I don’t simply praise Socrates from the comfort of my armchair. A triumph in prison? Yes, it is certainly possible, but it will only come to me when I perceive every luxury or hardship as being one and the same, as an opportunity to live with an informed conscience. Judging with indifference properly means realizing why nothing else matters.
Whether it comes sooner or later, none of us leave this life in possession of the fortune and fame we foolishly believe to be our own. In the end, the excellence of my thoughts and deeds will be all that can distinguish me.
—Reflection written in 6/2001
IMAGE: Vincent van Gogh, Prisoners' Round (1890)
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