Almost cut my hair. (Actually, I did cut my hair, two weeks ago.)

The letter today is a bit of an odd one. It's letter five, and in it Seneca begins with a comment that adds an important qualification on the sentiments expressed in the second letter, and in the Stoical way of life generally. "Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance," he says, "and the simple way of life need not be a crude one." Therefore, "avoid shabby attire, long hair, an unkempt beard, an outspoken dislike of silverware, sleeping on the ground and all other misguided means to self-advertisement." Lucky for me, I deleted that line denouncing silverware in last week's post just before publishing...

At any rate, Seneca's basic point is this: in striving to live the good life, don't make yourself look like a lunatic. This is a pretty interesting statement. "The standard which I accept is this: one's life should be a compromise between the ideal and the popular morality." Compromise? "People should admire our way of life but they should at the same time find it understandable."

Seneca raises a difficult problem here.

On the one hand, it seems that we should want to live out the ideal good. One ought to seek perfection, right? But on the other hand, such a life would be so radically different from the lives of others that it would totally fail in the ultimate goal of the good life, i.e. making the world a better place for everyone. A good life, according to Seneca at least, is only good insofar as it helps others live good lives, also.

It does no one any good for me to go live a perfect life in a cave somewhere, and it is impossible to live an ideally "perfect" life within society. Therefore, "compromises" must be made. I have to keep using silverware, and shave before class each morning, and enjoy a piece of greasy pizza with friends, have a cup of coffee from Starbucks, and wear clothes made in factories -- regardless of how unnecessary I think shaving every day is, or how unhealthy I think pizza is, how harmful and homogenizing Starbucks has been to coffee-shop culture, or how much factories hurt the environment and how little pay those who work in them receive [I'll spare you my thoughts concerning silverware].

I guess this is what is behind my own desires for a more centrist political movement. Personally, regardless of the outcome of the primaries and general election this year, I'm very pleased that so many people are talking about moving beyond the polarized red-and-blue politics and ideological fighting of recent years.  I know there is not broad public support for the anarchist-socialist views of human government that I would personally support, but neither is there broad public support for oppressive tyranny, or even for a dictatorship that claims to be "benevolent."  Compromise, therefore, is necessary. We have to work together to figure out what the "common good" looks like.

This is not to say we should live unexamined lives, though, either, or reject all political involvement because there just isn't a candidate we fully agree with. "Our clothes," Seneca reminds us, "should not be gaudy, yet they should not be dowdy either. We should not keep silver plate with inlays of solid gold, but at the same time we should not imagine that doing without gold and silver is proof that we are leading the simple life."

That's the essential point. Living the good life means more than driving hybrids or proudly proclaiming that none of our groceries come from Wal-Mart. Just as no one today would think me a high-moral prophet for wearing a button indicating myself to be "anti-silverware."  A life that seeks true morality, separate from common propriety and social mores, may not actually "look" that different from ordinary life. As with anything, it's what's below the surface and behind the edifice that really counts. We may never achieve the ideal good, in life or in society, but we can work towards the ideal, and push life a little closer to a true realization of the "common good."