The Little Book of Stoicism

Practice 16

Like a Minimalist: Live Simple

“Is it not madness and the wildest lunacy to desire so much when you can hold so little?” – Seneca

What are clothes for? Musonius Rufus advises to dress to protect our bodies, not to impress other people. Seek the necessary, not the extravagant. The same is true for our housing and furnishings. They should be functional and do little more than keep out heat and cold, and shelter us from the sun and wind.

Seneca likewise says that it makes no difference whether the house is built of turf or imported marble: “What you have to understand is that thatch makes a person just as good as a roof of gold does.”

The Stoics favor a simple lifestyle—a lifestyle that fits our needs. And we should always keep in mind that material things are indifferent. What matters is how we handle them. For one thing, we should not get attached to what can be taken away. As Marcus reminds us, “Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”

We should not hoard stuff. Most is useless and superfluous. We look at things as they’re for free because they come cheap or as gifts, but they cost us dearly. Seneca makes the point that there’s a hidden cost to all accumulating.

More is not always better. Free is not always free.

And once we experience luxury, we’ll long for even more. Getting stuff won’t make us happy, and we’ll want more and more in order to quench our thirst. However, as Epictetus observes, “Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.”

True wealth lies in wanting less. “No person has the power to have everything they want,” Seneca says, “but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.” Our goal should be to “seek riches, not from Fortune, but from ourselves.”

Let’s keep in mind that living by values such as mutual respect, trustworthiness, and self-control are more valuable than wealth or external success. We should never compromise our character to become wealthy. Being a good person is the highest good there is. And it’s all that’s needed to live a happy and fulfilling life.

But what if you are wealthy? Like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius were? First of all, wealth must come honorably and be spent honorably, says Seneca, and adds: “The wise man does not consider himself unworthy of any gifts from Fortune’s hands: he does not love wealth but he would rather have it; he does not admit it into his heart but into his home, and what wealth is his he does not reject but keeps, wishing it to supply greater scope for him to practice his virtue.”

Wealth often comes as a bonus if we act well and express our highest self. And if we do get it, then we should accept it without pride but also without clinging to it. It’s good to have it and you can enjoy it, but you must be prepared to let it go. Whether you have it or not shouldn’t make a difference. Seneca further says, “The influence of wealth on the wise person . . . is like a favorable wind that sweeps the sailor on his course.”

The idea is to be able to enjoy something and at the same time be indifferent to it. So accept that favorable wind when you get it, but be indifferent or even happy if you don’t get it. Ultimately, reality is good as it is—favorable winds and storms alike.

“Stoic philosophy calls for plain living, but not for penance,” as author William Irvine puts it. It doesn’t ask to renounce wealth. It does ask, however, to use it thoughtfully and keep in mind that it’s only borrowed from Fortune and can be taken away any moment.

(As a side note: The Stoic philosophers didn’t have the same opinion on this issue: Musonius Rufus and Epictetus thought luxurious living must be completely avoided because it corrupts us, while Seneca and Marcus Aurelius thought it’s possible to live in a palace without being corrupted.)