April

28th
WANTS MAKE YOU A SERVANT

“Tantalus: The highest power is—

Thyestes: No power, if you desire nothing.”

—SENECA, THYESTES, 440

I n the modern world, our interactions with tyranny are a bit more voluntary than they were in ancient
times. We put up with our controlling boss, though we could probably get a different job if we wanted.
We change how we dress or refrain from saying what we actually think? Because we want to fit in with
some cool group. We put up with cruel critics or customers? Because we want their approval. In these
cases, their power exists because of our wants. You change that, and you’re free.
The late fashion photographer Bill Cunningham occasionally declined to invoice magazines for his
work. When a young upstart asked him why that was, Cunningham’s response was epic: “If you don’t take
money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid.”
Remember: taking the money, wanting the money—proverbially or literally—makes you a servant to
the people who have it. Indifference to it, as Seneca put it, turns the highest power into no power, at least
as far as your life is concerned.
 April 29th
WASHING AWAY THE DUST OF LIFE

“Watch the stars in their courses and imagine yourself running alongside them. Think constantly on
the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, M EDITATIONS, 7.47

I t is almost impossible to stare up at the stars and not feel something. As cosmologist Neil deGrasse
Tyson has explained, the cosmos fills us with complicated emotions. On the one hand, we feel an
infinitesimal smallness in comparison to the vast universe; on the other, an extreme connectedness to this
larger whole.
Obviously, given that we’re in our bodies every day, it’s tempting to think that’s the most important
thing in the world. But we counteract that bias by looking at nature—at things much bigger than us. A line
from Seneca, which has since become a proverb, expresses Marcus’s insight well: Mundus ipse est
ingens deorum omnium templum (The world itself is a huge temple of all the gods).
Looking at the beautiful expanse of the sky is an antidote to the nagging pettiness of earthly concerns.
And it is good and sobering to lose yourself in that as often as you can.
 April 30th
WHAT IS IN KEEPING WITH YOUR CHARACTER?

“Just as what is considered rational or irrational differs for each person, in the same way what is
good or evil and useful or useless differs for each person. This is why we need education, so
that we might learn how to adjust our preconceived notions of the rational and irrational in
harmony with nature. In sorting this out, we don’t simply rely on our estimate of the value of
external things, but also apply the rule of what is in keeping with one’s character.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.2.5–7

I t is easy to get wrapped up in our own opinions of things. It’s as if we’re adhering to invisible scripts
—following instructions or patterns we don’t even understand. The more you question these scripts and
the more you subject them to the rigorous test of your education, the more you’ll be your own compass.
You’ll have convictions and thoughts that are your own and belong to no one else.
Character is a powerful defense in a world that would love to be able to seduce you, buy you, tempt
you, and change you. If you know what you believe and why you believe it, you’ll avoid poisonous
relationships, toxic jobs, fair-weather friends, and any number of ills that afflict people who haven’t
thought through their deepest concerns. That’s your education. That’s why you do this work.
 MAY

RIGHT ACTION