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November 17th

JUDGE NOT, LEST...

“When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is

the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrape off your own

faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others.”

—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 103.4b–5a

emember, the proper direction of philosophy—of all the things we’re
doing here—is focused inward. To make ourselves better and to leave
other people to that task for themselves and their own journey. Our faults
are in our control, and so we turn to philosophy to help scrape them off like
barnacles from the hull of a ship. Other people’s faults? Not so much.
That’s for them to do.
Leave other people to their faults. Nothing in Stoic philosophy
empowers you to judge them—only to accept them. Especially when we
have so many of our own.