Your task for today is to practice distinguishing between your own self-knowledge and the acknowledgement from others (or lack thereof).
"that person is grateful who only wishes to be and has no other witness to that wish than himself. Indeed I will go further. Sometimes a person is grateful even when he appears ungrateful, when malign gossip has given a perverse account of him. What else can such a man follow than his own self-knowledge?" Even if obscured, it delights him, it protests against the opinion of the crowd, it relies totally on itself, and when it sees on the other side a huge mob that thinks otherwise, does not count the votes but prevails by its own conviction. If it sees its good faith subjected to punishment for treachery, it does not leave its pinnacle but stands superior to its own punishment. It says, "I have what I wanted, what I sought; I have no regrets, nor will I have, nor will fortune however unfair bring me to such a pass that it hears me say, 'What have I wished on myself? What use is my good intention to me now?” A good intention is of use on the rack, even in the flame which is applied to one limb after another and slowly surrounds the body, even if my heart, though fully aware of its goodness, drips with blood: it will delight in the flame through which its good faith shines forth."
To have no other witness than ourself
To have no other witness than ourself
To have no other witness than ourself
Your task for today is to practice distinguishing between your own self-knowledge and the acknowledgement from others (or lack thereof).
"that person is grateful who only wishes to be and has no other witness to that wish than himself. Indeed I will go further. Sometimes a person is grateful even when he appears ungrateful, when malign gossip has given a perverse account of him. What else can such a man follow than his own self-knowledge?" Even if obscured, it delights him, it protests against the opinion of the crowd, it relies totally on itself, and when it sees on the other side a huge mob that thinks otherwise, does not count the votes but prevails by its own conviction. If it sees its good faith subjected to punishment for treachery, it does not leave its pinnacle but stands superior to its own punishment. It says, "I have what I wanted, what I sought; I have no regrets, nor will I have, nor will fortune however unfair bring me to such a pass that it hears me say, 'What have I wished on myself? What use is my good intention to me now?” A good intention is of use on the rack, even in the flame which is applied to one limb after another and slowly surrounds the body, even if my heart, though fully aware of its goodness, drips with blood: it will delight in the flame through which its good faith shines forth."
- Seneca, On Benefits 21.3-21.6