“Inwardly, we ought to be different in every respect, but our outward dress should blend in with the crowd.”
SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 5.2
In today’s quote from The Daily Stoic, it’s not immediately apparent why Seneca says we “should blend in with the crowd”. Thankfully, author Ryan Holiday helps us understand.
Being outwardly dramatic with our philosophy or our life-view doesn’t really achieve much. That type of behavior is really just for show, and doesn’t jive with the rest of stoic thinking. Worse, it puts off others and gives the wrong impression.
It might seem important to be outwardly different, but it’s really not. That’s surface-level thinking, and it matters little.
The change that matters happens on the inside. And nobody else can really see that, and that’s okay. Because we don’t do it for recognition, do we? Be different on the inside — it’s the only place it matters.
