Seneca Moral essays
Seneca: “You purposely misunderstand what I say,” says…
“You purposely misunderstand what I say,” says he, “for I too say that no one can live pleasantly unless he lives honorably also, and this cannot be the case with dumb animals who measure the extent of their happiness by that of their food.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Seneca’s moral essays. The reading beside it is ours.
A pleasant life is not the same thing as a life packed with pleasant sensations. Good food, a comfortable apartment, a vacation, and a full calendar can make us feel good for a while. They cannot make us good. And when character is missing, the comforts become demands: one more drink, one more purchase, one more distraction needed to keep the unease away. That is not happiness. It is dependence. The real test of a good life is whether you can respect the person you are becoming while you enjoy it. Pleasure is welcome when it follows sound choices. It becomes dangerous when it is the thing making the choices. Today, before asking, “Will I enjoy this?” ask the more important question: “Will this leave me stronger, fairer, and more in command of myself?”
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