What does it matter if running water is cut off and flows away, as long as the fountain from which it has flowed is unharmed?
You will not maintain that a man's life is more just if his children are unharmed than if they have passed away, nor yet better appointed, nor more intelligent, nor more honorable; therefore, no better, either.
The addition of friends does not make one wiser, nor does their taking away make one more foolish; therefore, not happier or more wretched, either.
As long as your virtue is unharmed, you will not feel the loss of anything that has been withdrawn from you.
You will not maintain that a man's life is more just if his children are unharmed than if they have passed away, nor yet better appointed, nor more intelligent, nor more honorable; therefore, no better, either.
The addition of friends does not make one wiser, nor does their taking away make one more foolish; therefore, not happier or more wretched, either.
As long as your virtue is unharmed, you will not feel the loss of anything that has been withdrawn from you.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 74
No, don’t be like the stingy bean counter, who is always worried about how much is coming in. Be rather like the carefree sage, who delights at how much is going out. Since virtue is a limitless resource, there is no need to be so tightfisted.
If I crudely presume that my happiness derives merely from selfish pleasure, the bitter irony is then that no pleasure will ever be quite enough. If, on the other hand, I calmly consider how my happiness is in the excellence of my actions, the living becomes its own reward. It is, to borrow the language of the Peripatetics, complete and self-sufficient.
Once I make the connection between happiness and virtue, I am relieved of so many burdens, the anxieties drilled into me by the existentialists and the nihilists. Why must my frustrations and disappointments with the world get me down? Nature has granted me the power to live with integrity, and that immediately puts all the rest into its rightful place—my feelings now have a context of meaning and purpose.
Seneca’s reasoning is crisp and clear. Whatever is good in my life proceeds from my virtues, and so my happiness, the end I seek above all else, can only rise or fall through my moral worth, the merit of my thoughts, words, and deeds. These are under my control, and they are the fulfillment of my nature.
I can be a just man, whether my children are near or far. I can be a prudent man, whether I have many friends or none at all. I can be a temperate man, both in riches and in poverty. I can be a brave man, from the slightest nuisance to the threat of death. Because of this, I can always be a happy man.
“Why do other people treat me so unfairly? Why do I have to be so miserable?”
I am what I do, not what they do. I am the captain of my soul. The goodness will flow continually, if only I stay true to the source.
No, don’t be like the stingy bean counter, who is always worried about how much is coming in. Be rather like the carefree sage, who delights at how much is going out. Since virtue is a limitless resource, there is no need to be so tightfisted.
If I crudely presume that my happiness derives merely from selfish pleasure, the bitter irony is then that no pleasure will ever be quite enough. If, on the other hand, I calmly consider how my happiness is in the excellence of my actions, the living becomes its own reward. It is, to borrow the language of the Peripatetics, complete and self-sufficient.
Once I make the connection between happiness and virtue, I am relieved of so many burdens, the anxieties drilled into me by the existentialists and the nihilists. Why must my frustrations and disappointments with the world get me down? Nature has granted me the power to live with integrity, and that immediately puts all the rest into its rightful place—my feelings now have a context of meaning and purpose.
Seneca’s reasoning is crisp and clear. Whatever is good in my life proceeds from my virtues, and so my happiness, the end I seek above all else, can only rise or fall through my moral worth, the merit of my thoughts, words, and deeds. These are under my control, and they are the fulfillment of my nature.
I can be a just man, whether my children are near or far. I can be a prudent man, whether I have many friends or none at all. I can be a temperate man, both in riches and in poverty. I can be a brave man, from the slightest nuisance to the threat of death. Because of this, I can always be a happy man.
“Why do other people treat me so unfairly? Why do I have to be so miserable?”
I am what I do, not what they do. I am the captain of my soul. The goodness will flow continually, if only I stay true to the source.
—Reflection written in 10/2013
IMAGE: Thomas Cole, The Titan's Goblet (1833)
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