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January 8
Day 8/365: Seneca on character vs. materiality
Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the stoic sages.
8/365: Seneca on character vs. materiality
“Anyone entering our homes should admire us rather than our furnishings. It is a great man that can treat his earthenware as if it was silver, and a man who treats his silver as if it was earthenware is no less great. Finding wealth an intolerable burden is the mark of an unstable mind.” – Seneca
Seneca is not suggesting that we care solely what people think of us. That, of course, is an external, uncontrollable force.
We control our character—the courage, justice, discipline, and wisdom we embody—so the aim is to avoid using our stuff as color to paint a picture of who we are.
Seneca would have us treat simple items with dignity, and valuable items without pride and attachment.
How many worn, decrepit items do you have? Can you perceive them as Seneca’s “great man” sees silver from his earthenware?
How many brand new, polished toys do you own? Can you, too, see them as earthenware?
Beyond functionality, we can strip the materiality of goods away — that’s our “own reasoned choice” as Epictetus would call it.
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