Required Reading: Letter 20: On Practicing What You Preach
“…I do not say that the philosopher can always keep the same pace. But he can always travel the same path.“
The road of the philosopher is a narrow one; he or she must be the scapegoat; the sacrificial lamb; the captain of the ship; the pilot of the aircraft; he is the last to partake yet the first to serve; a hard calling isn’t it? But what did you sign up for? To be the herd or the sheperd?
Hope the latter; hence, you must journey on; assemble your life so that everything is in a cosmos; in tune; in harmony so says the teacher “the highest duty and highest proof of wisdom—that deed and word should be in accord.” Yes! You will crave wealth. Yes! You will crave luxury. Yes! You will crave to be a part of the crowd. But No! You are not the same! You must curb desire; trim the excess and live simply. Would you be celebrated? Not really; but is that bad?
With a world which craves celebrity and everyone is so exposed; so busy-bodied; is this of any benefit? Will you have lots of “friends”? Not really; in fact, you may not have any at all; but you will be friendly. For you will truly know what friendship is. The true test of frienship is sourced from poverty. It is as Seneca states “poverty will keep for you your true and tried friends.” It is when you truly have nothing and you still find someone around that you really know this or that particular someone is as FRIEND! And you can never experience such a thing when wealth is at your leisure sun up to sun down.
Make yourself a poor man; and get to know the world for what it truly is; if you are rich, try out poverty from time to time. And if you are poor, well, you are a great student if you have learned how to be happy in necessity. For you will truly understand that you don’t need much; that the body tells you readily otherwise.
Nonetheless, your quest must be to be content in whatever condition you find yourself; for if you master this one task, Fortune has no power over you! You must easily adapt to lack as in abundance; for with that, you will truly grasp the meaning of the teacher who states “No man is born rich. Every man, when he first sees light is commanded to be content with milk and rags.” It is when we grow up that we desire ‘meat and linen’! Farewell.
Word of the day:
Alacrity (noun): briskness or cheerful readiness. (The Oxford American Desk Disctionary and Thesaurus 2nd Edition).
Quotations:
“Prove your words by your deeds.”
“Philosophy teaches us to act; not to speak.”
“You should lay hold, once for all, upon a single norm to live by, and should regulate your whole life according to this norm.”
“What is wisdom? Always desiring the same things, and always refusing the same things.”
“If you stop supporting that crowd, it will support itself.”
“Believe me, your words will be more imposing if you sleep on a cot and wear wags. For in that case you will not be merely saying them; you will be demonstrating their truth.” -Epicurus.
“…do as …great men have often done: to reserve a few days in which we may prepare ourselves for real poverty by means of fancied poverty.”
“…let the soul be roused from its sleep and be prodded, and let it be reminded that nature has prescribed very little for us.”
Questions:
1) Do you practice what you preach?
2) Is your home life different from your public life?
3) Do you have a single norm in which to live by? That is, come what may you will obey.
Activities:
1) Set a custom of living for your life; from the food you eat; your sprituality; to the clothes you wear; your attire and dress to your manner of speech, actions etc.
2) List all of your “friends”; which ones are still around; who have left? Can you spot the reason why they left?
3) Set a day each week to resemble a poor man; practice the role before the play begins.
