Today marks day 20 of my 30-day challenge to write a piece on a different quote from Senecaâs âLetters from a Stoicâ for 30 consecutive days.Â
Iâve been pondering a simple question today: Whoâs getting anything out of this besides me? What use is it to anybody for a preschool teacher to be reflecting on words that have been written about and dissected by PhDs in Philosophy (Doctors of Philosophy, in Philosophy)?!
Guess who has an answer to these questions? Come on, just a wild guessâŠ
None other than Lucius Annaeus Seneca!
Hereâs what my 2,000+ year-old friend has to say about the subject:
âWhatever is true is my property. And I shall persist in inflicting Epicurus on you, in order to bring it home to the people who take an oath of allegiance to someone and never afterwards consider what is being said but only who said it, that the things of greatest merit are common property.â
In this passage, Seneca was responding to his correspondent Luciliusâs complaint that Seneca had just used Epicurusâs words in an argument he was making.Â
Senecaâs defense and lesson is that, âWhatever is true,â âthe things of greatest meritâ donât belong to anybody. They belong to you and me as much as they belong to whomever said them first and to people who hold post-graduate degrees in philosophy. Anyone can use them as much as they want.
The content of Senecaâs work doesnât constitute the ultimate truth, yet his Letters are things of superlative merit. We can all consider them ours. Itâs humbling to be given free reign, so to speak, by Seneca himself to study his work and make it mine.
The quote also highlights that what matters is whatâs said, not who says it. I may (or may not) be writing things that touch a chord in some people. My great wish is that the pieces are at least making readers ponder ideas and examine their life in some way.
I believe that using Senecaâs work as my foundation immensely increases the odds that they are.
Links to the first 20 days: