“Nothing is noble if it’s done unwillingly or under compulsion. Every noble deed is voluntary.”
SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 66.16b
Holiday takes kind of a guilt-trip approach to analyzing today’s quote from Seneca in The Daily Stoic, and I don’t think I care for it, so I’m going to take a different approach.
Basically Seneca is saying that there’s no hard requirement to do the right thing, and anything good is done on purpose and voluntarily. And he’s right — there’s always the option to run away from duty. It doesn’t feel good to do that though, and it doesn’t lead down the path that people think it will, but it is available as a choice. But it won’t end with satisfaction or happiness, because your soul won’t be aligned.
Conversely, doing the right thing without really wanting to isn’t noble and it isn’t great. And being forced to do the right thing creates a similar misalignment within the soul. For it to be truly noble, you have to somehow find a way to want to do the right thing. It has to be voluntary. That’s why trying to make others do the right thing by force (i.e. your children) is a losing proposition.
In summary, noble actions come from the heart, are done willingly, and are not required!
