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Seneca and his Profound Stoic Teachings By Richard Uzelac
Have you ever had a moment when you can’t draw a sense out of a certain situation and then you are mad ?- a fight and flight response. One of the greatest philosophers of all time is Seneca. Who was he, and what profound teachings did he teach?
Who was Seneca?
Seneca was born during the time of the Roman Empire. He was the son of Seneca the Elder, a writer, and was born wealthy. Lucius Annaeus, aka Seneca the Younger, was a Stoic Philosopher. He was born in Spain and was educated in Rome. His father let him pursue a career in politics, but then, by a twist of fate, he was exiled. During this, he wrote the “Consolation to Marcia”, a part of three consolatory works of Seneca: De Consolatione ad Marciam, De Consolatione ad Polybium, De Consolatione ad Helviam.
After this, he was asked to return to tutor the emperor Nero who was only 16 years old by that time and known to become one of the most tyrant emperors of all time. And undeniably later demand to kill Seneca as he believes that he had conspired against him. However, since Seneca had written so much about death that, he bravely took ownership of his death rather than have Nero kill him on his own.
What Profound Stoic Teachings has Seneca taught?
By Richard Uzelac
One of Seneca’s best essays is “Anger,” and one of my favorite quotes from it is “No plague has cost the human race more. We see all around us people being killed, poisoned, and sued; we see cities and nations ruined. And besides destroying cities and nations, anger can destroy us individually.”
Being angry is a natural response as we are rational beings and built this way when triggered by threats. Stoicism isn’t teaching injustice nor to be perfect, but nevertheless, it teaches the four pillars: Wisdom, Courage, Justice, and Temperance.
Another quote from his essay Anger is, “How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury. Vengeance wastes a lot of time and exposes you to many more injuries than the first that sparked it. Anger always outlasts hurt. Best to take the opposite course. Would anyone think it normal to return a kick to a mule or a bite to a dog?” Seneca was trying to advise the emperors to be in control of themselves that it was a kind of madness.
Why is Seneca Interesting?
Seneca is an individualist and wise. He doesn’t only write out of stoicism ideas but also integrates ideas from other philosophies like Epicureanism mostly, thus making his philosophy so prominent. And what is interesting about Seneca is his writing technique. He writes his philosophy in the form of letters and uses the first person as we.
Some things I learned from Seneca By Richard Uzelac
- (A love of Fate) To accept what is the situation and what you have and make the most out of instead, instead of feeling sorrow. This is what most of stoic philosophers practice. As human as we are we tend to act irrationally. If we do wrong or something is out of our control then let it be. What’s not right is when we linger to sorrow and not moving forward.
Practice Pre Meditation while avoiding being anxious but rather prepare yourself
“Rest is sometimes far from restful. Hence our need to be stimulated into general activity and kept occupied and busy with pursuits of the right nature whenever we are victims of the sort of idleness that wearies of itself.”
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.” — Seneca.
“You should be extending your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, deriving constant nourishment from them if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind. To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”
Death – is inevitable. Let’s learn to live each day
“We should cherish old age and enjoy it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it.”
“Conformity and individuality I propose to value [men] according to their character, not their jobs. Each man has a character of his own choosing; it is chance or fate that decides his choice of job.”
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Here are just a few of Seneca’s Books:
- “ The Shortness of Life”
- “Of Peace of Mind”
- “De Vita Beata”
- “Apocolocyntosis”
- “Naturales quaestiones”
