8: Discovering The Right Path Late In Life

     There are not often explicit transitions between Seneca's letters, but his eighth letter to Lucilius does have such a transition. In the seventh letter, Seneca advised his friend to avoid crowds with phrases like "Direct your goods inward" and "Retreat into yourself". At the beginning of Letter 8, Seneca reports Lucilius' reaction to Letter 7, asking if Seneca's approach is inconsistent with the Stoic teaching to live an active life. Seneca responds:
          "Well, do you think this is inaction that I am urging upon you? Here is the reason that I have hidden myself away and closed the doors: to benefit the greater number. Not one of my days is spent in leisure, and I claim a part of the nights for study. I have no time for sleep, until it overcomes me; my eyes are exhausted and drooping with late hours, but I keep them to the task. I have withdrawn not only from society but from business, and especially from my own business. The work that I am doing is for posterity: it is they who can benefit from what I write. I am committing to the page some helpful admonitions, like recipes for useful salves. I have found these effective on my own sores, which, even if not completely healed, have ceased to spread. The right path, which I myself discovered late in life when weary from wandering, I now point out to others."
     I have no illusions about writing for posterity; however, on a personal level, I do believe that I have recently turned onto a better path. For much of my 29-year career, I seemed to alternate between "individual contributor" jobs and "manager" positions. The management jobs usually paid more, but I found them to be more stressful and less interesting. My current role as a contract attorney is in the individual contributor mode, and -- among other advantages -- I find that I have the mental energy to continue blogging (albeit mostly on the weekends).
     Speaking of blogging (and of discovering the right path) Real Delia is about finding oneself in adulthood, and I highly recommend it. Full disclosure, Delia Lloyd is my cousin, but don't hold that against her!
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     Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2015), Letter 8, 1-3, pages 37-38; see also Letter 7, 8, page 36.