A Stoic Breviary: Classical Wisdom in Daily Practice: Liberal Arts

Friday, December 29, 2023

Seneca, Moral Letters 62.1

Letter 62: On good company

We are deceived by those who would have us believe that a multitude of affairs blocks their pursuit of liberal studies; they make a pretense of their engagements, and multiply them, when their engagements are merely with themselves.

As for me, Lucilius, my time is free; it is indeed free, and wherever I am, I am master of myself. For I do not surrender myself to my affairs, but loan myself to them, and I do not hunt out excuses for wasting my time. And wherever I am situated, I carry on my own meditations and ponder in my mind some wholesome thought.

—from Seneca, Moral Letters 62

I must regularly remind people that the liberal arts, or liberal studies, are not about being on the left of the political spectrum, or some vague and lofty academic term to describe the formal core classes we are supposed to take in college. For the classical model, they are the methods of learning by which the mind builds the habits of thinking for itself, making possible a way of living suited to the man who is free.

The liberal arts are not particular subjects to be memorized, or tools for professional advancement. Whatever form they might take, they are rather the very exercise of our rational nature, which enables us to have the power of ruling over ourselves, regardless of our worldly circumstances. They provide the only liberty that matters.

Understood in this light, no one can ever claim to be “too busy” for the practice of self-awareness and self-mastery, as that is itself the task of being human. The man who says he has no time for critical reflection isn’t really much of a man at all—he is a slave to his passions.

Yes, that will deeply offend those who pride themselves on their titles or their possessions, yet they should carefully consider who they are meant to be before they brush aside any pursuit of the reason that defines them.

Though it will be quite an unpopular thing to say, most of the things we occupy ourselves with during the day are little more than busywork, self-imposed burdens to feed our vanities and to make us feel as if we are somehow important. The body makes humble demands for its care, while the nurturing of the soul should be our full-time job.

By all means, choose to be a lawyer, a doctor, or a welder, but first and foremost choose to do all things with an informed conscience. We don’t have to be fancy scholars to be guided by principle in all aspects of life.

I think it no accident that my love of Stoicism has invariably been joined with a commitment to the tradition of the liberal arts, for right living always requires right thinking. Time dedicated to the love of truth is never wasted.

—Reflection written in 6/2013

IMAGE: Virgil Solis, The Seven Liberal Arts (c. 1550)