Letters from Seneca

Very recently, I finished reading a fantastic book that gathers some letters written almost two thousand years ago by Seneca. This is a great lecture that helped me dig a bit deeper into Stoic philosophy. The way of life explained by Seneca and the description of a wise man are very close to my personal view of a meaningful life, so it was great to read that those ideas are far from new.

Before discussing specific ideas I found interesting in the book, I want to mention how surprising it was, at least to me, to discover how similar people in the Roman Empire were to those living in the 21st century. The problems and way of thinking described by Seneca in his letters to Lucilius reflect modern society so well that I don’t see any significant differences with the people that surround me, both in Australia and Poland. Seneca was a brilliant person ahead of his time. When I read his comments, I could easily believe he’s discussing modern societies if I swapped some details about the technology. It is amazing how little changes in human mentality, and how we are wrong when we think our times are so special.

There are many quotes in the letters that I highlighted. I will be putting them one by one and adding my comments.

Anyone entering our homes should admire us rather than our furnishings.

I find it super important to focus on my growth rather than the growth of my possessions. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t get nice things and make our homes and clothes attractive, but this shouldn’t be the end goal. It is way more important to be admired for who we are rather than what we have. What we have comes in parallel, but I firmly believe that it should be just a side effect of our activity.

It is this, if you wish to be loved, love.

Simple and very powerful. I find it similar to the Christian rule that we should love one another as we love ourselves. It goes both ways. We should love ourselves as we love others, so we need to care for ourselves. It’s simple, yet we often forget about it. We should treat ourselves the way we would someone we care about, and we shouldn’t expect others to treat us better than we treat them.

You will die not because you are sick, but because you are alive.

One of the pillars of the Stoic philosophy is the meditation on death. Firstly, it was a bit scary for me to think about it openly. Death to be a natural part of life and the realisation that nobody will run away from it is both terrifying and relieving. It is very in line with a Christian point of view. We are all going to die, and we don’t know when it will happen. Life is not measured by its length.

What else can you expect, seeing that you always take yourself along with you when you go abroad?

When I was in my early twenties, I believed that changing my surroundings would help me find myself, and I would be able to grow because of the place I was in. I felt that I would only have to find the right place and the right people, and then I would reveal my full potential and, of course, live happily ever after. That is a very naive way of thinking. Always, when we travel, we take ourselves with us, and most likely, if you have a problem, the problem is in you. So the solution to some existential crisis very likely is not in travelling to a foreign country, but within ourselves. From my own experience, if you run away from something that bothers you and you start fresh somewhere else, you will most likely end up in the same situation but in a different scenery.

A guilty person sometimes has luck to escape detection, but never to feel sure of it.

I’ve heard Jordan Peterson say that in his work, he has never seen anybody getting away with anything. Everything you do will eventually come back to haunt you. It might feel unfair that people doing bad things are living a comfortable life, but unfortunately, this is how the world works. I firmly believe we shouldn’t complain about it. Everybody has the right to choose between their conscience and comfort. I prefer to be loyal to my beliefs, and I consciously refuse to do things that I find unfair or simply evil, accepting the fact that I won’t get short-term gratification. If some people decide to do the opposite, it is their choice, and I’m sure it will have its consequences.

For those who follow nature everything is easy and straightforward, whereas for those who fight against her life is just like rowing against the stream.

Again, an obvious observation that is often overlooked. We live in a world governed by specific natural laws. We do not have to obey, but if we don’t, we need to be prepared to struggle. It doesn’t mean to accept everything without saying, but to recognise the natural way of life and not to fight against it, because in the long run, there is no point in doing it.

In summary, the Letters from Stoic is a fascinating book, and it will be on my bookshelf once I have one.