Seneca on the First Cause

Today’s episode is an excerpt from The Tao Of Seneca produced by Tim Ferriss’ Audio. In this letter Seneca writes about matter is being substance ready for any use whereas cause (reason) molds matter and turns it in whatever directions it will, how the wise man is so trained that he neither loves nor hates life, and how wise men regard their body as nothing but a chain since it is the only part of man which can suffer injury. Go to tim.blog/seneca to get the PDF for free. Get Letters From a Stoic from the Painted Porch. Shopify has the tools and resources that make it easy for any business to succeed from down the street to around the globe. Go to shopify.com/stoic, all lowercase, for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features. Grow your business with Shopify today - go to shopify.com/stoic right now. Talkspace is an online and mobile therapy company. Make your mental health more than just another New Year’s resolution, with Talkspace. Visit talkspace.com and get $100 off your first month when you use promo code STOIC at sign-up. That’s $100 off at talkspace.com, promo code STOIC. GiveWell is the best site for figuring out how and where to donate your money to have the greatest impact. Go to Givewell.org to read more about their research or donate to any of their recommended charities. Enter Daily Stoic at checkout so they know we sent you. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://DailyStoic.com/dailyemailCheck out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more. Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Weekend Edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal,

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  and most importantly, to prepare for what the week ahead may bring. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another Sunday episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. We've got another letter from Seneca. We've been pulling some excerpts from Tim Ferriss's wonderful produced audiobook, The Tao of Seneca, which you can get for free at tim.blog/seneca as a PDF or pick up on Audible with an Audible credit, or you can click the link in today's episode and grab that. I just love Seneca's letters so much that here we are 2,000 years later, able to sort of peek in on this wonderful friendship and conversation

• 1:28Ryan Holiday?

  he was having with the one and only Lucilius. Great money quote from today's episode. "I have no fear of death, since I have no fear of ceasing to exist. It is the same as not having begun. Nor do I shrink from changing into another state, because I shall, under no conditions, be as cramped as I am now in my mortal body." That's Seneca, who ultimately did have to come face to face with death when Nero's goons came for him. But that was well after he wrote this wonderful little letter. And I hope you do check out the audiobook, The Tao of Seneca. As I said, you can get it for free as a PDF at tim.blog/seneca. And we carry the Penguin Classics translation of Letters of a Stoic,

• 2:11Ryan Holiday?

  one of my favorite books, the second book of Stoicism I ever read, here at The Painted Porch in Bastrop, Texas, as well as thepaintedporch.com.

• 2:22Speaker 01

  Letter 65. On the First Cause.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  I shared my time yesterday with ill health. It claimed for itself all the period before noon. In the afternoon, however, it yielded to me. And so I first tested my spirit by reading, then, when reading was found to be possible, I dared to make more demands upon the spirit, or perhaps I should say, to make more concessions to it. I wrote a little, and indeed with more concentration than usual, for I am struggling with a difficult subject, and do not wish to be downed. In the midst of this, some friends visited me, with the purpose of employing force and of restraining me, as if I were a sick man indulging in some excess.

• 3:12Speaker 01

  So conversation was substituted for writing, and from this conversation, I shall communicate to you the topic which is still the subject of debate, for we have appointed you referee. You have more of a task on your hands than you suppose, for the argument is threefold. Our Stoic philosophers, as you know, declare that there are two things in the universe which are the source of everything, namely, cause and matter. Matter lies sluggish, a substance ready for any use, but sure to remain unemployed if no one sets it in motion. Cause, however, by which we mean reason, molds matter and turns it in whatever direction

• 3:55Speaker 01

  it will, producing thereby various concrete results. Accordingly, there must be, in the case of each thing, that from which it is made, and, next, an agent by which it is made. The former is its material, the latter its cause. All art is but imitation of nature. Therefore, let me apply these statements of general principles to the things which have to be made by man. A statue, for example, has afforded matter which was to undergo treatment at the hands of the artist, and has had an artist who was to give form to the matter. Hence, in the case of the statue, the material was bronze, the cause was the workman.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  And so it goes with all things; they consist of that which is made, and of the maker. The Stoics believe in one cause only, the maker, but Aristotle thinks that the word "cause" can be used in three ways. "The first cause," he says, "is the actual matter, without which nothing can be created. The second is the workman. The third is the form, which is impressed upon every work, a statue, for example. This last is what Aristotle calls the "Edos." "There is two," says he, "a fourth, the purpose of the work as a whole." "Now,

• 5:23Speaker 01

  I shall show you what this last means. Bronze is the first cause of the statue, for it could never have been made unless there had been something from which it could be cast and molded. The second cause is the artist, for without the skilled hands of a workman, that bronze could not have been shaped to the outlines of the statue. The third cause is the form, inasmuch as our statue could never be called "the lance-bearer" or "the boy binding his hair", had not this special shape been stamped upon it. The fourth cause is the purpose of the work, for if this purpose had not existed, the statue would not have been made. Now, what is this purpose?

• 6:06Speaker 01

  It is that which attracted the artist which he followed when he made the statue. It may have been money, if he has made it for sale, or renown, if he has worked for reputation, or religion, if he has wrought it as a gift for a temple. Therefore, this also is a cause contributing towards the making of the statue. Or do you think that we should avoid an including, among the causes of a thing which has been made, that element without which the thing in question would not have been made?

• 6:38Speaker 01

  To these four, Plato adds a fifth cause, the pattern which he himself calls the "idea", for it is this that the artist gazed upon when he created the work which he had decided to carry out. Now, it makes no difference whether he has this pattern outside himself, that he may direct his glance to it, or within himself, conceived and placed there by himself. God has within himself these patterns of all things, and his mind comprehends the harmonies and the measures of the whole totality of things which are to be carried out. He is filled with these shapes which Plato calls the "ideas", imperishable, unchangeable, not subject to decay.

• 7:20Speaker 01

  And therefore, though men die, humanity itself, or the idea of man according to which man is molded, lasts on, and though men toil and perish, it suffers no change. Accordingly, there are five causes, as Plato says: the material, the agent, the makeup, the model, and the end in view. Last comes the result of all these. Just as in the case of the statue, to go back to the figure with which we began, the material is the bronze, the agent is the artist, the makeup is the form which is adapted to the material, the model is the pattern imitated by the agent, the end in view is

• 8:01Speaker 01

  the purpose in the maker's mind, and finally, the result of all these is the statue itself. The universe also, in Plato's opinion, possesses all these elements. The agent is God, the source, matter; the form, the shape and the arrangement of the visible world; the pattern is doubtless the model according to which God has made this great and most beautiful creation; the purpose is his object in so doing. Do you ask what God's purpose is? It is goodness. Plato, at any rate, says: "What was God's reason for creating the world? God is good, and no good person is grudging of anything that is good.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  Therefore, God made it the best world possible." Hand down your opinion then, O judge. State who seems to you to say what is truest, and not who says what is absolutely true; for to do that is as far beyond our ken as truth itself. This throng of causes, defined by Aristotle and by Plato, embraces either too much or too little. For if they regard as causes of an object that is to be made, everything without which the object cannot be made, they have named too few. Time must be included among the causes, for nothing can be made without time. They must also include place, for if there be no place where a thing can be made, it will not be made.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  And motion too. Nothing is either made or destroyed without motion. There is no art without motion, no change of any kind. Now, however, I am searching for the first, the general cause. This must be simple inasmuch as matter too is simple. Do we ask what cause is? It is surely creative reason, in other words, God. For those elements to which you referred are not a great series of independent causes. They all hinge on one alone, and that will be the creative cause. Do you maintain that form is a cause? This is only what the artist stamps upon his work. It is part of a cause, but not the cause. Neither is the

• 10:17Speaker 01

  pattern a cause, but an indispensable tool of the cause. His pattern is as indispensable to the artist as the chisel or the file. Without these, art can make no progress. But for all that, these things are neither parts of the art nor causes of it. Then, perhaps you will say, "The purpose of the artist, that which leads him to undertake to create something, is the cause." It may be a cause. It is not, however, the efficient cause, but only an accessory cause. But there are countless accessory causes. What we are discussing is the general cause. Now, the statement of Plato and Aristotle is not in

• 10:59Speaker 01

  accord with their usual penetration, when they maintain that the whole universe, the perfectly wrought work, is a cause, for there is a great difference between a work and the cause of a work. Either give your opinion, or, as is easier in cases of this kind, declare that the matter is not clear and call for another hearing. But you will reply, "What pleasure do you get from wasting your time on these problems, which relieve you of none of your emotions, rout none of your desires?"

• 11:34Speaker 01

  So far as I am concerned, I treat and discuss them as matters which contribute greatly toward calming the spirit, and I search myself first, and then the world about me. And not even now am I, as you think, wasting my time. For all these questions, provided that they be not chopped up and torn apart into such unprofitable refinements, elevate and lighten soul, which is weighted down by a heavy burden and desires to be freed and to return to the elements of which it was once apart. For this body of ours is a weight upon the soul and its penance. As the load presses down, the soul is crushed and is in bondage, unless philosophy has come to its assistance

• 12:19Speaker 01

  and has bid it take fresh courage by contemplating the universe and has turned it from things earthly to things divine. There it has its liberty, there it can roam abroad. Meantime it escapes the custody in which it is bound and renews its life in heaven. Just as skilled workmen, who have been engaged upon some delicate piece of work which wearies their eyes with straining, if the light which they have is niggardly or uncertain, go forth into the open air and in some park devoted to the people's recreation delight their eyes in the generous light of day, so the soul, imprisoned as it has been in this gloomy and darkened house,

• 13:02Speaker 01

  seeks the open sky whenever it can, and in the contemplation of the universe finds rest. The wise man, the seeker after wisdom, is bound closely indeed to his body, but he is an absentee so far as his better self is concerned, and he concentrates his thoughts upon lofty things.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  Bound, so to speak, to his oath of allegiance, he regards the period of life as his term of service. He is so trained that he neither loves nor hates life, he endures a mortal lot, although he knows that an ampler lot is in store for him. Do you forbid me to contemplate the universe? Do you compel me to withdraw from the whole and restrict me to a part? May I not ask what are the beginnings of all things, who molded the universe? Who took the confused and conglomerate mass of sluggish matter and separated it into its parts? May I not inquire who is the master builder of this universe? How the mighty bulk was brought under the control of law and order?

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Who gathered together the scattered atoms, who separated the disordered elements and assigned an outward form to elements that lay in one vast shapelessness? Or whence came all the expanse of light, and whether is it fire, or even brighter than fire? Am I not to ask these questions? Must I be ignorant of the heights whence I have descended? Whether I am to see this world but once, or to be born many times? What is my destination afterwards? What abode awaits my soul on its release from the laws of slavery among men? Do you forbid me to have a share in heaven? In other words, do you bid me live with my head bowed down?

• 14:52Speaker 01

  No, I am above such an existence. I was born to a greater destiny than to be a mere chattel of my body, and I regard this body as nothing but a chain which manacles my freedom. Therefore, I offer it as a sort of buffer to fortune, and shall allow no wound to penetrate through to my soul. For my body is the only part of me which can suffer injury. In this dwelling, which is exposed to peril, my soul lives free. Never shall this flesh drive me to feel fear, or to assume any pretense that is unworthy of a good man.

• 15:34Speaker 01

  Never shall I lie, in order to honor this petty body. When it seems proper, I shall sever my connection with it. And at present, while we are bound together, our alliance shall nevertheless not be one of equality, the soul shall bring all quarrels before its own tribunal. To despise our bodies is sure freedom. To return to our subject, this freedom will be greatly helped by the contemplation of which we were just speaking. All things are made up of matter and of God. God controls matter, which encompasses Him and follows Him as its guide and leader.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  And that which creates, in other words God, is more powerful and precious than matter which is acted upon by God. God's place in the universe corresponds to the soul's relation to man. World matter corresponds to our mortal body. Therefore, let the lower serve the higher. Let us be brave in the face of hazards. Let us not fear wrongs, or wounds, or bonds, or poverty. And what is death? It is either the end, or a process of change. I have no fear of ceasing to exist, it is the same as not having begun.

• 16:59Speaker 01

  Nor do I shrink from changing into another state, because I shall, under no conditions, be as cramped as I am now. Farewell.

• 17:14Ryan Holiday?

  You know, the Stoics in real life met at what was called the stoia, the stoia po kiloe, the painted porch in ancient Athens. Obviously, we can't all get together in one place. First off, because this community is like hundreds of thousands of people and we couldn't fit in one space. But we have made a special digital version of the stoia. We're calling it Daily Stoic Life. It's an awesome community. You could talk about like today's episode, you could talk about the emails, ask questions. That's one of my favorite parts is interacting with all these people who are using Stoicism to be better in their actual, real lives. You get more Daily Stoic meditations over the weekend, just for the Daily Stoic Life members, quarterly Q and As with me, cloth-bound edition of our Best of meditations, plus

• 17:58Ryan Holiday?

  a whole bunch of other stuff, including discounts. And this is the best part, all our Daily Stoic courses and challenges totally for free, hundreds of dollars of value every single year, including our New Year, New You Challenge. We'd love to have you join us. There's a two-week trial totally for free. Check it out at dailystoiclife.com.