/lit/ - Literature

>>22092178

>God is near you, he is with you, he is within you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: A Holy Spirit dwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our guardian. As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. Indeed, no man can be good without the help of God. Can one rise superior to Fortune unless God helps him to rise? He it is that gives noble and upright counsel. [...] When a soul rises superior to other souls, when it is under control, when it passes through every experience as if it were of small account, when it smiles at our fears and at our prayers, it is stirred by a force from Heaven. Therefore, a greater part of it abides in that place from whence it came down to Earth. Just as the rays of the sun do indeed touch the Earth, but still abide at the source from which they are sent; even so the great and hallowed soul, which has come down in order that we may have a nearer knowledge of divinity, does indeed associate with us, but still cleaves to its origin; on that source it depends, thither it turns its gaze and strives to go, and it concerns itself with our doings only as a being superior to ourselves.

>Many short and easy roads to freedom lie open on all sides. Let us thank god, that no one is able to be kept in life.

>He who says [that one should die naturally] does not realize that he blocks off the road of freedom. The eternal law did nothing better than giving us one entrance into life, but many exits. Should I await the cruelty of disease or man, when I am able to exit through the middle of tortures and shake off my adversities?

>But you know this, to how many men it (death) is useful, how many men it frees from tortures, destitution, ailments, torments, and weariness. We are in the power of no one, when death is in our power.

>The wise man presents an awesome spectacle. Knowing, as he does, the difference between virtue and vice, good and evil, and things that are indifferent, and knowing his own strength, both physical and mental, the wise man is able to withstand any amount of torture, illness, poverty, and pain with a firm and tranquil mind, and has no fear of death at all. He feels physical pain, but his mind does not collapse: he will never view any of these things as bad. The wise man may commit suicide under such conditions, but not to escape pain. He will exit only when it seems right for him to do so, when he is sure that the sufferings he is undergoing make virtuous action impossible. The wise man is always free because he is never forced to do anything against his will. Suicide plays a role in the freedom of the wise man because it allows him to exit when he should. The wise man, not fearing death as an evil and knowing that he can commit suicide at any time it is called for, is completely free and in control of his own fate.