Seneca Moral essays
Seneca: You will see that men are subject to the same…
You will see that men are subject to the same influences as dumb animals: we are put out by trumpery, futile matters. Bulls are excited by red colour, the asp raises its head at a shadow, bears or lions are irritated at the shaking of a rag, and all creatures who are naturally fierce and wild are alarmed at trifles.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Seneca’s moral essays. The reading beside it is ours.
Human beings can be set off by astonishingly small things: a tone of voice, a slow checkout line, an unread message, a colleague using the wrong word. The smallness of the trigger does not make the feeling unreal, but it should make us cautious about obeying it. Animals react to colors, shadows, and movement; we have our own reflexes, dressed up in better language. The work is to notice the gap between stimulus and response. When you feel your mood shift, ask: what actually happened, and what meaning did I add to it? Maybe the driver cut you off. That is inconvenient. It is not proof that the universe disrespects you. Training the mind means making fewer emergencies out of trifles. Today, pick one irritation and let it pass without commentary. Teach yourself that not every twitch deserves an action.
Related passages
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