In the second place, this does not mean to me the taking-off of a friend or of a child; it is the mere taking-off of their bodies. But a good can be lost in only one way, by changing into what is bad; and this is impossible according to the law of Nature, because every virtue, and every work of virtue, abides uncorrupted.
Again, even if friends have perished, or children of approved goodness who fulfil their father's prayers for them, there is something that can fill their place.
Do you ask what this is? It is that which had made them good in the first place, namely, virtue. Virtue suffers no space in us to be unoccupied; it takes possession of the whole soul and removes all sense of loss. It alone is sufficient; for the strength and beginnings of all goods exist in virtue herself.
Again, even if friends have perished, or children of approved goodness who fulfil their father's prayers for them, there is something that can fill their place.
Do you ask what this is? It is that which had made them good in the first place, namely, virtue. Virtue suffers no space in us to be unoccupied; it takes possession of the whole soul and removes all sense of loss. It alone is sufficient; for the strength and beginnings of all goods exist in virtue herself.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 74
We become accustomed to living by acquisition and consumption, so we think nothing to be good unless we can clutch it in our grubby little hands; to claim it as “mine” is an expression of status, from the schoolyards to the boardrooms. The Stoics dare to claim that a man was made for more.
If I love my wife or my son, is that relation defined by some guarantee of ownership, or should it rather be based upon an act commitment? If I had just distinguished the expectation of receiving from the gift of giving, I would have saved myself from so much grief.
When I am cast out of my home, or a dear friend passes, I must reflect carefully on the true measure of gains and losses. A person, place, or thing can be removed from my grasp, and yet its presence or its absence does not determine my own capacity to offer the love, and to find peace in the appreciation—as the outer circumstances change, the inner opportunities for virtue still remain.
The very ideal of virtue seems ridiculous to the grasping man, but only because he has focused himself on what happens to him, not on the merit of his own judgements and actions. The dignity of character, as the center of all human efforts, is recovered at that moment when we rediscover the indomitable power within us to continue thriving under any conditions.
And yes, before you snicker, that power is indeed indomitable, for it is exclusively mine to possess, and it perfects every aspect of my nature. How will you take it from me? I am free to offer compassion as soon as you condemn. How could there be anything left to desire? I am living with understanding and with love, to which nothing more can be added.
Those who praise virtue above all else are not romantics or dreamers: they recognize the be-all and end-all of our daily existence.
We become accustomed to living by acquisition and consumption, so we think nothing to be good unless we can clutch it in our grubby little hands; to claim it as “mine” is an expression of status, from the schoolyards to the boardrooms. The Stoics dare to claim that a man was made for more.
If I love my wife or my son, is that relation defined by some guarantee of ownership, or should it rather be based upon an act commitment? If I had just distinguished the expectation of receiving from the gift of giving, I would have saved myself from so much grief.
When I am cast out of my home, or a dear friend passes, I must reflect carefully on the true measure of gains and losses. A person, place, or thing can be removed from my grasp, and yet its presence or its absence does not determine my own capacity to offer the love, and to find peace in the appreciation—as the outer circumstances change, the inner opportunities for virtue still remain.
The very ideal of virtue seems ridiculous to the grasping man, but only because he has focused himself on what happens to him, not on the merit of his own judgements and actions. The dignity of character, as the center of all human efforts, is recovered at that moment when we rediscover the indomitable power within us to continue thriving under any conditions.
And yes, before you snicker, that power is indeed indomitable, for it is exclusively mine to possess, and it perfects every aspect of my nature. How will you take it from me? I am free to offer compassion as soon as you condemn. How could there be anything left to desire? I am living with understanding and with love, to which nothing more can be added.
Those who praise virtue above all else are not romantics or dreamers: they recognize the be-all and end-all of our daily existence.
—Reflection written in 10/2013
IMAGE: T. Jefferys, Virtue (1757)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment