Seneca On The Reasons For Withdrawing From The World

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1:20Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Sundays, we take a deeper dive into these ancient topics with excerpts from the Stoic texts, audiobooks that we like here or recommend here at Daily Stoic, and other long-form wisdom that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend. We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy, and most importantly, that you're able to apply it to your actual life. Thank you for listening.

1:59Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another Sunday episode on the Daily Stoke Podcast. What I like about Seneca's letter so much is there's sort of an insight into his life as a human. Now, there's certainly a performative element to the letters, but they are kind of snapshots as to where Seneca was. And he was in a place not like ours. He lived under the time of Nero. It was politically unpredictable. It was chaotic. It was dangerous. It was busy. He had stuff going on in his life the way that you have stuff going on in your life. And so today I wanted to bring you letter 14, which is titled On the Reasons for Withdrawing from the World.

2:33This is from the Tao of Seneca, which is a collection of Seneca's letters. It's an audio book that my friend Tim Ferriss put together as part of his audio imprint, Tim Ferriss Audio. And it's basically about how we avoid jealousy and hatred and scorn and craziness and divisiveness, like how we stay sane in a crazy world. And one of the ways we do that is by finding refuge philosophy. We've run a bunch of episodes from the Tao Seneca, different letters from Seneca, Seneca on despising death, Seneca philosophy and friendship, Seneca on conquering the conqueror, Seneca on practicing what you preach.

3:11I'll link to those in today's show notes, but Seneca's letters are just so absolutely beautiful. And I think reading them is the best way to interact with them. I've gotten many marked up copies from the year, but I like to throw these episodes together. Tim's nice enough to let us run them just because I think listening to them is another way. You can imagine one of Lucilius' servants reading him the latest letter from Seneca. You could imagine some student in a classroom 500 years ago, you know, reading out Seneca's letters to the class, practicing his Latin or his Greek. And here we are, you know, in 2024, doing it via a podcast.

3:47And I think that's so cool. You can get the full PDF of the book, all of Seneca's letters at tim.blog.seneca. I'll link to that in today's show notes. Enjoy.

3:59Letter 14. On the reasons for withdrawing from the world.

4:08I confess that we all have an inborn affection for our body. I confess that we are entrusted with its guardianship. I do not maintain that the body is not to be indulged at all, but I maintain that we must not be slaves to it. He will have many masters who makes his body his master, who is over-fearful in its behalf, who judges everything according to the body. We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it. Our too great love for it makes us restless with fears, burdens us with cares, and exposes us to insults. Virtue is held too cheap by the man who counts his body too dear.

4:59We should cherish the body with the greatest care, but we should also be prepared when reason, self-respect, and duty demand the sacrifice to deliver it even to the flames. Let us, however insofar as we can, avoid discomforts as well as dangers, and withdraw to safe ground by thinking continually how we may repel all objects of fear. If I am not mistaken, there are three main classes of these. We fear want, we fear sickness, and we fear the troubles which result from the violence of the stronger. And of all these, that which shakes us most is the dread which hangs over us from our neighbor's ascendancy, for it is accompanied by great outcry and uproar.

5:51But the natural evils which I have mentioned, want and sickness, steal upon us silently with no shock of terror to the eye or to the ear. The other kind of evil comes, so to speak, in the form of a huge parade. Surrounding it is a retinue of swords and fire and chains, and a mob of beasts to be let loose upon the disemboweled entrails of men. Picture to yourself, under this head, the prison, the cross, the rack, the hook, and the stake which they drive straight through a man until it protrudes from his throat. Think of human limbs torn apart by chariots driven in opposite directions, of the terrible shirt smeared and interwoven with inflammable materials, and of all the other contrivances devised by cruelty in addition to those which I have mentioned.

6:46It is not surprising, then, if our greatest terror is of such a fate, for it comes in many shapes, and its paraphernalia are terrifying. For, just as the torturer accomplishes more in proportion to the number of instruments which he displays, indeed, the spectacle overcomes those who would have patiently withstood the suffering, Similarly, of all the agencies which coerce and master our minds, the most effective are those which can make a display. Those other troubles are, of course, not less serious. I mean hunger, thirst, ulcers of the stomach, and fever that parches our very bowels. They are, however, secret.

7:30They have no bluster and no heralding. but these, like huge arrays of war, prevail by virtue of their display and their equipment. Let us, therefore, see to it that we abstain from giving offense. It is sometimes the people that we ought to fear, or sometimes a body of influential oligarchs in the Senate, if the method of governing the Senate is such that most of the business is done by that body, and sometimes individuals equipped with power by the people and against. the people. It is burdensome to keep the friendship of all such persons. It is enough not to make enemies of them. So the wise man will never provoke the anger of those in power, nay, he will even turn his course, precisely as he would turn from a storm if he were steering a ship.

8:24When you travelled to Sicily, you crossed the straits. The reckless pilot scorned the blustering south wind, the wind which roughens the Sicilian sea and forces it into choppy currents. He sought not the shore on the left, but the strand, hard by the place with Charybdis, throws the seas into confusion. Your more careful pilot, however, questions those who know the locality as to the tides and the meaning of the clouds. He holds his course far from that region notorious for its swirling waters. Our wise man does the same. He shuns a strong man who may be injurious to him, making a point of not seeming to avoid him, because an important part of one's safety lies in not seeking safety openly.

9:13For what one avoids, one condemns. We should therefore look about us, and see how we may protect ourselves from the mob. and first of all, we should have no cravings like theirs, for rivalry results in strife. Again, let us possess nothing that can be snatched from us to the great profit of a plotting foe. Let there be as little booty as possible on your person. No one sets out to shed the blood of his fellow men for the sake of bloodshed. At any rate, very few. More murderers speculate on their profits than give vent to hatred. If you are empty-handed, the highwayman passes you by. Even along an infested road, the poor may travel in peace.

10:08Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastro County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought, this isn't going to work, stopped, parked it, walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove into Austin and bought a truck. What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma. And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields, and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in.

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11:46Next, we must follow the old adage and avoid three things with special care. Hatred, jealousy, and scorn. And wisdom alone can show you how this may be done. It is hard to observe a mean. We must be wary of letting the fear of jealousy lead us into becoming objects of scorn, lest when we choose not to stamp others down, we let them think that they can stamp us down. The power to inspire fear has caused many men to be in fear. Let us withdraw ourselves in every way, for it is as harmful to be scorned as to be admired. One must therefore take refuge in philosophy. This pursuit, not only in the eyes of good men, but also in the eyes of those who are even moderately bad, is a sort of protecting emblem.

12:41For speech-making at the bar, or any other pursuit that claims the people's attention, wins enemies for a man. But philosophy is peaceful and minds her own business. Men cannot scorn her. She is honored by every profession, even the vilest among them. Evil can never grow so strong, and nobility of character can never be so plotted against that the name of philosophy shall cease to be worshipful and sacred. Philosophy itself, however, should be practiced with calmness and moderation. Very well, then, you retort. Do you regard the philosophy of Marcus Cato as moderate? Cato's voice strove to check a civil war.

13:28Cato parted the swords of Madden chieftains. When some fell foul of Pompey, and others fell foul of Caesar, Cato defied both parties at once. Nevertheless, one may well question whether, in those days, a wise man ought to have taken any part in public affairs and ask, What do you mean, Marcus Cato? It is not now a question of freedom. Long since has freedom gone to rack and ruin. The question is whether it is Caesar or Pompey who controls the state. Why, Cato, should you take sides in that dispute? It is no business of yours. A tyrant is being selected. What does it concern you who conquers? The better man may win, but the winner is bound to be the worse man.

14:20I have referred to Cato's final role. but even in previous years the wise man was not permitted to intervene in such plundering of the state. For what could Cato do but raise his voice and utter unavailing words? At one time he was bustled by the mob and spat upon and forcibly removed from the forum and marked for exile. At another he was taken straight to prison from the Senate chamber. However, we shall consider later whether the wise man ought to give his attention to politics. Meanwhile, I beg you to consider those Stoics who, shut out from public life, have withdrawn into privacy for the purpose of improving men's existence and framing laws for the human race without incurring the displeasure of those in power.

15:10The wise man will not upset the customs of the people, nor will he invite the attention of the populace by any novel ways of living. What then? Can one who follows out this plan be safe in any case? I cannot guarantee you this any more than I can guarantee good health in the case of a man who observes moderation. although, as a matter of fact, good health results from such moderation. Sometimes a vessel perishes in harbor. But what do you think happens on the open sea? And how much more beset with danger that man would be, who even in his leisure is not secure, if he were busily working at many things?

15:57Innocent persons sometimes perish. Who would deny that? But the guilty perish more frequently. A soldier's skill is not at fault if he receives the death blow through his armor. And finally, the wise man regards the reason for all his actions, but not the results. The beginning is in our own power. Fortune decides the issue, but I do not allow her to pass sentence upon myself. You may say, but she can inflict a measure of suffering and of trouble. The highwayman does not pass sentence when he slays. Now, you are stretching forth your hand for the daily gift. Gold and indeed will be the gift with which I shall load you, and inasmuch as we have mentioned gold, let me tell you how its use and enjoyment may bring you greater pleasure.

16:56He who needs riches least enjoys riches most. Author's name, please, you say. Now, to show you how generous I am, it is my intent to praise the dicta of other schools. The phrase belongs to Epicurus, or Metrodorus, or someone of that particular thinking shop. But what difference does it make who spoke the words? They were uttered for the world. He who craves riches feels fear on their account. No man, however, enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety. He is always trying to add a little more. While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it. He collects his accounts, he wears out the pavement in the forum, he turns over his ledger.

17:51In short, he ceases to be master and becomes a steward. Farewell.

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