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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.