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April 20th

REAL GOOD IS SIMPLE

“Here’s a way to think about what the masses regard as being

‘good’ things. If you would first start by setting your mind upon

things that are unquestionably good—wisdom, self-control,

justice, courage—with this preconception you’ll no longer be able

to listen to the popular refrain that there are too many good things

to experience in a lifetime.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.12

s it that controversial to say that there are the things that people value
(and pressure you to value as well)—and there are the things that are
actually good? Or to question whether wealth and fame are all they are
cracked up to be? As Seneca observed in one of his plays:

“If only the hearts of the wealthy were opened to all!
How great the fears high fortune stirs up within them.”
For centuries, people have assumed that wealth would be a wonderful
cure-all for their unhappiness or problems. Why else would they have
worked so hard for it? But when people actually acquired the money and
status they craved, they discovered it wasn’t quite what they had hoped. The
same is true of so many things we covet without really thinking.
On the other hand, the “good” that the Stoics advocate is simpler and
more straightforward: wisdom, self-control, justice, courage. No one who
achieves these quiet virtues experiences buyer’s remorse.