Fasting & Flames of Anger

It takes greater courage refusing to withdraw oneself, neither making oneself conspicuous nor part of the crowd.

Toughen the soul, & set aside days to test oneself against conditions one fears; accordingly train before it comes, so as not to flinch when crisis comes.

It is not how big a fire you can cast, it matters upon where the flames land; as many a great trees have repelled fire, yet the smallest spark can ignite on a bed of straws & sticks; Flames of anger, derives their fire from the source it ignites.

On Festivals and Fasting

It is the month of December, & yet the city is at this very moment in a sweat; Licence is given to the general merrymaking.

I should be glad to consult you & find out what you think should be done, – whether we ought to make no change in our daily routine, or whether, in order not to be out of sympathy with the ways of the public, we should dine in cheerful fashion & remove the garments.

I am sure that if I know you aright, playing the part of an umpire you would have wished that we should be neither like the liberty-capped crowds in all ways, nor in all ways unlike them; unless, perhaps this is just the season when we ought to lay down the law to the soul, & bid it be alone in refraining from pleasures just when the whole mob has let itself go in pleasures; for this is the surest proof which a person can get of their own constancy, if they neither seeks the things which are seductive & allure them to luxury, nor is led into them.

It shows much more courage to remain dry & sober when the mob is drunk & vomiting; but

it shows greater self-control to refuse to withdraw oneself & to do what the crowd does, but in a different way, – thus neither making oneself conspicuous nor becoming one of the crowd;

For one may keep holiday without extravagance.

I am so firmly determined however, to test the constancy of your mind that drawing from the teachings of great teachers, I shall give you also a lesson:

Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest & cheapest fare,

with coarse & rough garments, saying to yourself the while:

“Is this the condition that I feared?”

It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, & it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against its violence.

In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, & wearies themselves by gratuitous toil, in order that they may be equal to unavoidable toil;

If you would not have a person flinch when the crisis comes, train them before it comes.

Such is the course which those people have followed, who in their imitation of poverty, have every month come almost to want, that they might never recoil from what they had so often rehearsed.

Let the pallet be a real one, & the coarse cloak; let the bread be hard & grimy; Endure all this for three or four days at a time, sometimes for more, so that it may be a test of yourself instead of a mere hobby.

Then, I assure you my dear Lucilius, you will leap for joy when filled with a pennyworth of food, & you will understand that a person’s peace of mind does not depend upon Fortune; for, even when angry it grants enough for our needs.

There is no reason however, why you should think that you are doing anything great, for you will merely be doing what many thousands of servants & poor souls are doing every day.

You may credit yourself with this item, – that you will not be doing it under compulsion, & that it will be as easy for you to endure it permanently as to make the experiment from time to time.

Let us practise our strokes on the “dummy”, let us become intimate with poverty, so that Fortune may not catch us off our guard, We shall be rich with all the more comfort, if we once learn how far poverty is from being a burden.

Do you think that there can be fulness on such fare?, Yes & there is pleasure also, not that shifty & fleeting pleasure which needs a stimulant now & then, but a pleasure that is steadfast & sure.

For though water, cereals & crusts of bread, are not a cheerful diet, yet it is the highest kind of pleasure to be able to derive pleasure from this sort of food, & to have reduced one’s needs to that modicum which no unfairness of Fortune can snatch away.

So begin, my dear Lucilius to follow the custom of these people, & set apart certain days on which you shall withdraw from your business & make yourself at home with the scantiest fare.

Establish business relations with poverty

Dare, O my friend, to scorn the sight of wealth, & mould thyself to kinship with thy Divinity.

For One alone, is in kinship with the Divine, who has scorned wealth,; Of course I do not forbid you to possess it, but I would have you reach the point at which you possess it dauntlessly; this can be accomplished only by persuading yourself, that you can live happily without it as well as with it, & by regarding riches always as likely to elude you.

Here is a draft on Epicurus:

“Ungoverned anger begets madness”

You cannot help knowing the truth of these words, since you have had not only servants, but also enemies.

Indeed this emotion blazes out against all sorts of people; it springs from love as much as from hate, & shows itself not less in serious matters than in jest & sport; It makes no difference how important the provocation may be, but into what kind of soul it penetrates.

Similarly with fire; it does not matter how great is the flame, but what it falls upon; For solid timbers have repelled a very great fire; conversely, dry & easily inflammable stuff nourishes the slightest spark into a conflagration.

So it is with anger, my dear Lucilius; the outcome of a mighty anger is madness, & hence anger should be avoided, not merely that we may escape excess, but that we may have a healthy mind.

Farewell.

Seneca, StoicTaoist.

The acquisition of riches has been for many people, is not an end, but a change, of troubles; For the fault is not in the wealth, but in the mind itself.

If you have nothing, before anything else, seek understanding first.

On Philosophy & Riches

Cast away everything, rather that you may be wise; strive toward a sound mind with all your strength; If any bond holds you back, untie it, or sever it.

“But,” you say, “my estate delays me; I wish to make such disposition of it that it may suffice for me when I have nothing to do, lest either poverty be a burden to me, or I myself a burden to others.”

Take my advice; call wisdom into consultation; it will advise you not to sit for ever at your ledger; the pursuit of riches have shut off many people from the attainment of wisdom; poverty is unburdened & free from care.

When the trumpet sounds, the poor knows that they are not being attacked; when there is a cry of “Fire,” they only seek a way of escape, & does not ask what they can save.

If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor fellow, or resemble a poor soul; Wealth cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live simply; & living simply is voluntary poverty.

Away, then, with all excuses like: “I have not yet enough; when I have gained the desired amount, then I shall devote myself wholly to philosophy.”

Yet this ideal, which you are putting off & placing second to other interests, should be secured first of all, you should begin with it.

You retort: “I wish to acquire something to live on.”, Yes, but learn while you are acquiring it; for if anything forbids you to live nobly, nothing forbids you to die nobly.

There is no reason why poverty should call us away from philosophy, – no, nor even actual want; For when hastening after wisdom, we must endure even hunger; Even though we starve, we must reach that goal.

Will any fellow hesitate to endure poverty, in order that they may free their mind from madness?, Hence one should not seek to lay up riches first; one may attain to philosophy, however, even without money for the journey.

After you have come to possess all other things, shall you then wish to possess wisdom also?, Is philosophy to be the last requisite in life, – a sort of supplement?

Nay, your plan should be this: be a philosopher now, whether you have anything or not, – for if you have anything, how do you know that you have not too much already?

If you have nothing, seek understanding first, before anything else, But, you say, I shall lack the necessities of life, In the first place, you cannot lack them; because nature demands but little, & the wise ones suits their needs to nature.

If, however, one means of existence are meagre & scanty, one will make the best of them, without being anxious or worried about anything more than the bare necessities; one will do justice to their belly & their shoulders; with free & happy spirit they will laugh at the bustling of rich people, & the flurried ways of those who are hastening after wealth, & say: Why of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future?

Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old soul, when you can be rich here & now.

Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, & pays it over to those in whose eyes it has made wealth superfluous.

Change the age in which you live, & you have too much; But in every age, what is enough remains the same.

I shall borrow from Epicurus:

“The acquisition of riches has been for many people, not an end, but a change, of troubles.”; For the fault is not in the wealth, but in the mind itself.

Just as it matters little whether you lay a sick person on a wooden or on a golden bed, for whithersoever they be moved, they will carry their malady with them; so one need not care whether the diseased mind is bestowed upon riches or upon poverty.

Their malady goes with the person.

Farewell.

Seneca, StoicTaoist.