Do you behold yonder homes of the great, yonder thresholds uproarious with the brawling of those who would pay their respects? They have many an insult for you as you enter the door, and still more after you have entered.
Pass by the steps that mount to rich men’s houses, and the porches rendered hazardous by the huge throng; for there you will be standing, not merely on the edge of a precipice but also on slippery ground.
Instead of this, direct your course hither to wisdom, and seek her ways, which are ways of surpassing peace and plenty. Whatever seems conspicuous in the affairs of men—however petty it may really be and prominent only by contrast with the lowest objects—is nevertheless approached by a difficult and toilsome pathway.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness; but if you desire to scale this peak, which lies far above the range of Fortune, you will indeed look down from above upon all that men regard as most lofty, but nonetheless you can proceed to the top over level ground. Farewell.
Pass by the steps that mount to rich men’s houses, and the porches rendered hazardous by the huge throng; for there you will be standing, not merely on the edge of a precipice but also on slippery ground.
Instead of this, direct your course hither to wisdom, and seek her ways, which are ways of surpassing peace and plenty. Whatever seems conspicuous in the affairs of men—however petty it may really be and prominent only by contrast with the lowest objects—is nevertheless approached by a difficult and toilsome pathway.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness; but if you desire to scale this peak, which lies far above the range of Fortune, you will indeed look down from above upon all that men regard as most lofty, but nonetheless you can proceed to the top over level ground. Farewell.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 84
Make no mistake, a life of serenity will not come easy, but a life of jumping through the hoops will bring you far greater difficulties, forever dependent on the whims and the schemes of the greedy and the shifty. If you fight to tame your own inclinations, success or failure is entirely within your power, but if you fight to win against the conspirators, success or failure will always remain beyond your power.
If I look closely, behind all the pomp and circumstance, I will notice how the world of the wheeler-dealers is driven by anxiety and malice. As much as he pretends, a man is not happy when he is grasping, and he is not secure because he is bragging. We desperately rush about to fill the emptiness on the inside with diversions from the outside, and we ignorantly assume that the only way forward is to take advantage of the next guy.
If I desire peace, I will require philosophy. Not the philosophy of the academic, which is little more than bickering and posturing, but the philosophy of the daily grind, where solid principles for living are drawn out from the broad range of common experiences, both pleasant and painful. From a wider perspective, it becomes clear that what once seemed so imposing actually turns out to be quite puny.
Some will claim that philosophy is just a luxury, an amusement for those who, after their basic needs have been met, now possess the leisure to ponder life’s profound questions. Yet this statement is itself working from certain philosophical assumptions, as if food, clothing, and shelter are the vital necessities, when absolutely everything a man does is already tied up in the exercise of his reason and his will. We are minds carrying around bodies, not bodies first, and then minds later.
Perhaps you will tell me that none of it makes a difference if I starve or freeze to death. I do not deny that the security of the flesh matters, but I will insist that mere survival is pointless without a sense of meaning and purpose; the creature comforts are a means, not an end. I will surely shock you by saying that some of us, however few, would rather die than choose to act without understanding and love.
I do not need to tread on anyone else, or to raise my empire upon the corpses of my enemies. Even as I walk over the most humble ground, I have the opportunity to rise far above the madness of a life ruled by fortune.
Make no mistake, a life of serenity will not come easy, but a life of jumping through the hoops will bring you far greater difficulties, forever dependent on the whims and the schemes of the greedy and the shifty. If you fight to tame your own inclinations, success or failure is entirely within your power, but if you fight to win against the conspirators, success or failure will always remain beyond your power.
If I look closely, behind all the pomp and circumstance, I will notice how the world of the wheeler-dealers is driven by anxiety and malice. As much as he pretends, a man is not happy when he is grasping, and he is not secure because he is bragging. We desperately rush about to fill the emptiness on the inside with diversions from the outside, and we ignorantly assume that the only way forward is to take advantage of the next guy.
If I desire peace, I will require philosophy. Not the philosophy of the academic, which is little more than bickering and posturing, but the philosophy of the daily grind, where solid principles for living are drawn out from the broad range of common experiences, both pleasant and painful. From a wider perspective, it becomes clear that what once seemed so imposing actually turns out to be quite puny.
Some will claim that philosophy is just a luxury, an amusement for those who, after their basic needs have been met, now possess the leisure to ponder life’s profound questions. Yet this statement is itself working from certain philosophical assumptions, as if food, clothing, and shelter are the vital necessities, when absolutely everything a man does is already tied up in the exercise of his reason and his will. We are minds carrying around bodies, not bodies first, and then minds later.
Perhaps you will tell me that none of it makes a difference if I starve or freeze to death. I do not deny that the security of the flesh matters, but I will insist that mere survival is pointless without a sense of meaning and purpose; the creature comforts are a means, not an end. I will surely shock you by saying that some of us, however few, would rather die than choose to act without understanding and love.
I do not need to tread on anyone else, or to raise my empire upon the corpses of my enemies. Even as I walk over the most humble ground, I have the opportunity to rise far above the madness of a life ruled by fortune.
—Reflection written in 12/2013
IMAGE: Shen Zhou, Poet on a Mountaintop (c. 1500)
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