Seneca, Rolling Stones and Cheryl Crow
I found a thread of commonality running from Heraclitus, Seneca, the Rolling Stones, and Cheryl Crow. This message is not exclusive to stoics, but maybe they were the ones who could walk the talk.
“If you don’t regard what you have as enough, you will never be happy even if you rule the entire world”.
“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are.”
Seneca
I attended a lecture in college (’78-’82) by a visiting English professor who was part of Strawberry Alarm Clock. He stated, and I remember it almost verbatim, … what a travesty it will be when intellectuals start quoting popular music. I am finding more and more that the difference between philosophers and some musicians is not that great.
You can’t always get what you want
Rolling Stones
But if you try sometime, you’ll find
You get what you need
I don’t have digital
Cheryl Crow
I don’t have diddly squat
It’s not having what you want
It’s wanting what you’ve got
If those don’t get you, how about a quote from before Seneca …
“To accept it without arrogance, to let it go with indifference.”
Heraclitus
A warning about craving more, walking the earth thirsty is very, very old. It just does not seem like humans are paying attention – especially here in US.