Keywords:: PermanentNote
Tags: possessions luck makePublic
Reference: Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Seneca's words on luck
"Avoid the gifts of chance. Luck is not a gift but rather a snare. Animals are deceived by tempting hopes."
"The good that can be given can be removed."
"The gifts of chance are not to be regarded as part of our possessions."
"What chance has made yours is not really yours."
Some thoughts about Seneca's words.
Bigger ego, equals less freedom. He says that each additional gift or possession actually starts possessing us as we start identifying with it. Ownership of things expands our ego. Whenever the possession is being attacked or is at risk of being taken away, it's as the attack was on ourselves. This is one of the reasons to live minimally. When you have few possessions you're a happier person because you need less to satisfy your ego.
The agricultural revolution's introduction of property might have had an unseen impact of creating a world of constant war for possessions.
Has it? Or maybe it has just magnified our natural inclinations? As Will Durant said, war is the competition of survival of states.
But, if it has indeed magnified them, does it mean that they should be magnified?
This magnification poses an evolutionary problem which we need to solve. Solving it might make us evolve.
Maybe... Before solving a problem we must first admit we have one.
If no, then should we go back to forager times?
Debt. "What chance has made yours is not really yours." Maybe he also calls for doubt and hesitation when offered a gift because of our reciprocal nature? Whenever we get something, we feel the urge to give something back – which usually is good. But when you take it from another perspective then you can say that whenever you give, you expect to be reciprocated. Thus, accepting gifts creates a debt that ought to be paid back. Something that slows us down and puts chains on us. It's a short term gain and long term loss.
In other words, each new possession puts a tax on you that you'll need to repay in the future. Nothing is free.
Relevant notes:
It can be related to R: The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb where luck is a black swan which when taken for possession can bread a negative black swan. Seneca calls for staying in the mediocristan and rejecting the extremistan.
Be grateful for your blessings because, especially if you're in an Extremistan environment, almost certainly luck played a role in your success. But as luck can give you it can also take away. Therefore, to preserve it, become more conservative, and humble with the gifts you received from the Goddess Fortune.
Relates to: PN: New possessions create obligations