Read Like A Spy

<p>As we’ve written about <a href='https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/preview/dpheh0hz/aHR0cHM6Ly9kYWlseXN0b2ljLmNvbS9kb250LWxpbWl0LXlvdXJzZWxmLw=='>before</a>, one of the most surprising parts of <a href='https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/preview/e5uph7h9/aHR0cHM6Ly9kYWlseXN0b2ljLmNvbS9sZXR0ZXJzLWZyb20tYS1zdG9pYz91dG1fc291cmNlPWNvbnZlcnRraXQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1jb252ZXJ0a2l0JnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1saWtlLWEtc3B5'>Seneca’s writing</a> is how that avowed Stoic quotes Epicurus, the founder of Epicureanism. Even Seneca knew this was strange as each time he did so in his famous <a href='https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/preview/78i7h8hv/aHR0cHM6Ly9nZW5pLnVzL3VwSU1y'><em>Letters</em></a><em>,</em> he felt obliged to preface or explain why he was so familiar with the teachings of a rival school.</p><p>His best answer appears in Letter II, <a href='https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/preview/opfkhqh3/aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpc291cmNlLm9yZy93aWtpL01vcmFsX2xldHRlcnNfdG9fTHVjaWxpdXMvTGV0dGVyXzI='>On Discursiveness in Reading</a>, and it works as a prompt for all of us in our own reading habits. The reason he was so familiar with Epicurus, Seneca wrote, was not because he was deserting the writings of the Stoics, but because he was reading like a <a href='https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/preview/zvtghnh9/aHR0cHM6Ly9kYWlseXN0b2ljLmNvbS9lcGljdXJlYW5pc20tc3RvaWNpc20vP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9Y29udmVydGtpdCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWNvbnZlcnRraXQmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPWxpa2UtYS1zcHk='><em>spy in the enemy’s camp</em></a><em>.</em> That is, he was deliberately reading and immersing himself into the thinking and the strategies of those he disagreed with. To see if there was anything he could learn and, of course, to bolster his own defenses.</p><p>It’s very easy, especially in today’s social media and algorithmic world, to become caught in a feedback loop of your own viewpoints. You read an article about one topic, and suddenly, all you see are more and more pieces about that same topic. You watch a video from a partisan on one side of the spectrum and now that’s <em>all</