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Deeper than happiness, joy springs from mysterious sources. Not
sudden rain bursts of glee. Nor mere gladness because of calm waters. It is
fuelled instead from clean, deep unpolluted wells that are blemish-free. That
run with cleansing channels to fertile lands. Growing deeds as crops. Its
unseen abundance is fenced by detachment. Joy bubbles up despite hardship,
often due to hard lessons learnt. The deeper the plough cuts the greater the
harvest.
Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) the ancient stoic philosopher was
sentenced to commit suicide by the emperor Caligula, who resented Seneca’s
eloquence in the Senate. Seneca only survived because he was seriously ill and
Caligula thought that he would soon die anyway. The next emperor
Claudius exiled Seneca for many years to the island
of Corsica. Nero, the subsequent emperor, was tutored in his
childhood by Seneca but later turned on his old tutor and sentenced him to
death. Seneca had certainly experienced the hardships that
tribulations bring. He would have agreed with the words of
Epictetus, a later stoic who urged vigilance in life by pointing out:
“It’s much easier for a mariner to wreck his ship than it is for
him to keep it sailing safely; all he has to do is head a little more upwind
and disaster is instantaneous. In fact, he does not have to do anything: A
momentary loss of attention will produce the same result.”
Seneca, much earlier in his life, had already spoken to others on
misfortune. He had pointed out that one should not see apparent
misfortunes as genuinely bad. He lectured that in some ways they should be
welcomed as they can benefit us. He felt that a good person should treat all
adversity as a training exercise. In fact, he drew an analogy with a
wrestler who only benefits from taking on tough opponents and who would
gradually lose his skill if he only ever faced weaker challengers. Seneca felt
that we only show our own skills when we face a real adversary. Adversity,
he felt, works in a similar way: it lets us display our virtues and it trains
them so that we can improve. He suggested that adversity should be welcomed
when it came. In a similar vein, he pointed out that a general will only send
his best soldiers into the most difficult battles. He felt that God will send
the toughest challenges only to the most worthy individuals. Experiencing
adversity then is a mark of having a virtuous character. He asked the question
that if we are never tested would we ever develop virtues of patience courage
and resilience? Seneca pointed out that unlimited luxury and wealth would serve
to make a person lazy, complacent, ungrateful and greedy for more.
After a lifetime of giving lectures on detachment he consoled his
companions as his own painful death was endured. He reminded his listeners of
Socrates’ (470 BC – 399 BC) approach to death. If life was so
valuable, he pointed out, why would Socrates, the greatest philosopher, treat
it with such dismissal. Socrates had been occupied with the search for moral
virtues and was sentenced to death by drinking
hemlock. Socrates' fearless humour was demonstrated when during his
trial he was asked what his punishment should be and responded that a wage from
the government and free dinners for the rest of his life would suffice!
It’s not that life is unimportant but to live an uninvested life
seems the worst torment. If unexpected death can be viewed as a kindly gardener
moving a tender plant to a more fertile land then a waste of life can both be
likened to a worthless weed. A weed that has grown out of sight of the
gardener’s care, strangling younger seedlings and denying them light or
substance. Such weeds will gain their recompense at the final harvest. But what
gardener does not despair at their wanton destruction. The question then
remains how do we flourish and progress fully in life?
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 AD), a stoic emperor wrote with
insight;
“Make a habit of regularly observing the universal process of
change; be insidious in your attention to it, and school yourself thoroughly in
this branch of study; there is nothing more elevating to the mind. For when a
man realizes that at any moment he may have to leave everything behind him and
part from the company of his fellows, he casts off the body and thenceforward
dedicates himself wholly to the service of justice in his personal actions and
compliance with Nature in all else. No thought is wasted on what others may say
or think of him or practise against him; two things alone suffice him, justice
in his daily dealings and contentment with all fate’s apportionings.”
So sometimes when hardship or loss strikes, the lessons it brings
can prune and strengthen growth. But if we
instead, flower with easy abundance, grow in wealth and glory while seeing
others around us wither and suffer then, perhaps the Divine Gardener does not
transplant with love but views us with startled disdain.
All that growth and show, just wasted space. If our good deeds
here plant seeds in the next world, what scene of devastation awaits those who
have abused and brought destruction to others. Better by far to face atonement
here than face the divine Gardner with no penance paid, full of selfish
satisfaction and a wasted, wasteful life to offer. While others roughly treated
here may find more forgiving climes and receive tender divine care from the
source of love.
Marcus Aurelius had clear opinions on what we should and should
not fear in this life. It is surprising but to the point.
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never
beginning to live.”
