Yet, unlike physics, the philosophy most true to human nature gives us not technical terms and news of marvels outside the ken of our normal experience, but rather reminders of what lies right in front of our eyes, or, if we are perceptive, inside our own hearts. In ancient Greece, the famous Socrates had often represented himself as a midwife of the mind, merely helping people give birth to thoughts that were already deep within them. And in the philosophical advice that Seneca gives us about successful living, we often find ourselves experiencing a clear and dramatic statement of what we have always somehow suspected or even known. But, then, this easily could be thought to create a problem. We miss much that is set before our very eyes.
Advice is, in fact, a sort of exhortation.
In one of the best recent books by an individual highly successful in the world of sports, former Chicago Bulls basketball coach Phil Jackson draws on the insights of philosophy and emphasizes more than once the central importance of focused mental attention in everything we do. The world s great religious traditions have always stressed the importance of what commands our attention. So it's no surprise to see a perceptive thinker like Seneca speak here of attention as crucially important to the impact of philosophy. Philosophy at its best, he says, focuses our attention on things that might have eluded us because of their very familiarity, reminds us of important truths that we need to act on, and then goads us into action as well. And remember, too, that in this way what is clear often becomes clearer.