ENJOYABLE: 7/10 * An idea that has been around for only one day has a high chance of being irrelevant tomorrow. Seneca’s letters read like a diary, or a handbook of philosophical meditations. These letters are fantastic in that there is such a variety of information and subjects covered. Letters from a Stoic is a first-person look into how an experienced Stoic applies philosophy to ordinary life and the world around him. The rich have way more than they need, people pursue happiness by chasing superfluous goals, leisure and travel are mistaken for the path to fulfillment, grave sins by successful people are forgiven for a few extraordinary deeds, opinion and titles are assigned too much worth; the list goes on. They are addressed to Lucilius, the then procurator of Sicily. Vote. But in the case of a grown man... it is disgraceful to go hunting after gems of wisdom, and prop himself up with a minute number of the best-known sayings and be dependent on his memory as well; it is time he was standing on his own feet. ...this is what we mean when we say that the wise man is self-content; he is so in the sense that he is able to do without friends, not that he desires to do without them. What you will see with the philosopher’s eyes, 4 Basic Money-Related Concepts You Need to Understand, How Lockdown Has Changed My Perception of Buying Clothes, Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training. Together with the book Meditations from Marcus Aurelius, this seminal work by Seneca is one of the true classics of ancient Stoicism (even though that school of thought originated in Athens, while both Seneca and Aurelius were Romans). 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. Letters From A Stoic By Seneca. He especially warns of "the crowd", which he sees as the ultimate discourager of noble conduct. But if a life of abundance, hedonism, constant busyness and limitless ambition has not brought you the fulfillment and happiness you had expected, this might be the book for you. No one is ignorant as not to know that one day he must die. In letters from a stoic 30, Seneca talks about their friend Bassus who is extremely ill and about to draw his last breath. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. It's such a therapeutic and eye-opening read. Reading this book will make you think it was written yesterday. All that dashing about turns out to be quite futile... you are running away in your own company. Attentiveness to words, analysis of syllables, accounts of myths... What is there in all this that dispels fear, root our desire or reins in passion? Adopting stoic ideals should not mean that we live in a way that is radically different than others. To follow the words of others blindly is to be a slave. There is no such thing as The Only Right Way. Without it no one can lead a life free of free or worry. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Seneca: Letters from a Stoic (and Biography) [Annotated]. It’s easy and free to post your thinking on any topic. Sign up for the monthly Just Finished email (click here).One simple email delivered to your inbox; each last weekend of the month, one great book and one amazing article recommendation. Often beginning with observations on daily life, the letters focus on many traditional themes of Stoic philosophy, such as the contempt of death, the value of friendship and virtue as the supreme good. Let’s start by saying this is not an easy read. The wise man, unequalled though he is in his devotion to his friends, though regarding them as being no less important and frequently more important than his own self, will still consider what is valuable in life to be something wholly confined to his inner self. From it you not only learn the core tenets of Stoicism, but get to witness the intellectual practice of someone who's … Letters from a Stoic by Seneca the Younger, 1969, Penguin edition, in English There are certain people who tell any person they meet things that should only be confided to friends, unburdening themselves of whatever is on their minds into any ear they please. Despite his relatively undistinguished background and ever-recurrent ill health, he rose rapidly to prominence at Rome, pursuing the double career in A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness. Critical Summary. Others again are shy of confiding in their closes friends, and would not even let themselves, if they could help it, into the secrets they keep hidden deep down inside themselves. Philosophy's power to blunt all the blows of circumstance is beyond belief. In fact there were few themes throughout the book as recurrent as Seneca's view on the importance of philosophy, like the following passage: Philosophy moulds and builds the personality, orders one's life, regulates one's conduct, shows one what one should do and what one should leave undone, sits at the helm and keeps one on the correct course as one is tossed about in perilous seas. Reading this book will make you think it was written yesterday. Nevertheless, the relevance of the book’s content is shocking. You ask what is the proper limit to a person's wealth? There are short and simple exercises which will tire the body without undue delay and save what needs especially close accounting for, time. From it you not only learn the core tenets of Stoicism, but get to witness the intellectual practice of someone who's who's wholly devoted to cultivating his mind, mastering philosophy, and achieving long-lasting happiness. But when you have decided to do so, welcome him heart and soul, and speak as unreservedly with him as you would with yourself. ... Digital Rights Management (DRM) The publisher has supplied this book in encrypted form, which means that you need to install free software in order to unlock and read it. Letters, on the other hand, is more prescriptive, instructional and tactical. Hi Stoic Fam, Today's reading session is about the importance of choosing the right crowd because of the inevitable influence they have on us. Set yourself a limit which you couldn't even exceed if you wanted to, and say good-bye at last to those deceptive prizes more precious to those who hope for them to those who have won them. Reading Letters from a Stoic will help you build resilience, compassion, patience and all the other virtues. Happiness is achieved not though anything external or material, but by devoted practice of philosophy and avoidance of all things that tempt or derail us from a cultivated disposition. Since its original intention was to be a personal journal, Meditations has a more, well, meditative, introspective feel. Create free account to access unlimited books, fast download and ads free! Now we can read those letters and they can guide us through problems with grief, wealth, poverty, success, failure, education and so many other things. Seneca was a stoic as well, but like Marcus, he was practical and borrowed liberally from other schools. My answer would be this: there's no attaining morality without food either, but there's no connexion between morality and food. Traveling about and moving is really just fleeing from yourself. Devotees of physical culture have to put up with a lot of nuisances. The person who has run away from the world and his fellow-men, whose exile is due to the unsuccessful outcome of his own desires, who is unable to endure the sight of others more fortunate, who has taken to some place of hiding in his alarm like a timid, alert, he is not 'living for himself', but for his belly and his sleep and his passions – in utter degradation, in other words. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Letters from a Stoic, which Seneca wrote toward the end of his life from approximately 63 AD to 65 AD, expands upon these lessons. And the reason they lament them so extravagantly then is that they are afraid people may wonder whether they did care; they are looking for belated means of demonstrating their devotion. 'Avoid,' I cry, 'whatever is approved of by the mob, and things that are the gift of chance'... we think these things are ours when in fact it is we who are caught. Rest is sometimes far from restful. You need to learn to keep a cool head under any circumstance, in the face of any and all problems. I got a lot out of reading Letters and wanted to encourage others to read it and thought that sharing some of the key ideas from the book might convince them to do so.. Just a head’s up: this blog is a long read. They are deeply affected by the words and become the persons they are told to be – or would if the impression on their minds were to last, if this magnificent enthusiasm were not immediately intercepted by that discourager of noble conduct, the crowd: very few succeed in getting home in the same frame of mind. Letters From A Stoic is a collection of moral epistles famous Roman Stoic and philosopher Seneca sent to his friend Lucilius, in order to help him become less emotional, more disciplined, and find the good life. The observations Seneca makes about both individual behavior and society at large are still applicable today, perhaps even more so than in his days. Natural desires are limited; those which spring from false opinions have nowhere to stop, for falsity has no point of termination. They're not concerned to rid themselves of any faults there, or acquire any rule of life by which to test their characters, but simply to enjoy to the full the pleasures the ear has to offer. Wouldn't you think a man an utter fool if he burst into tears because he didn't live a thousand years ago? For people abstain from forbidden things far more often through feelings of inhibition when it comes to doing what is wrong than through any will to good. Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. Yes this conviction, clear as it is, needs to be strengthened and given deeper roots through daily reflection; making noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. Reading this book will make you think it was written yesterday. A person adopted as a friend for the sake of his usefulness will be cultivated only for as long as he is useful. Turning to the musical scholar I say this. Tim Ferris, Ryan Holiday, Pete Carroll, Theodore Roosevelt all read Seneca and found him useful in their stressful lives. They are very well written and clear, making them a fantastic read (whether you agree with what’s being said or not). Consider his soul, its quality and its stature, and thus learn whether its greatness is borrowed, or its own.”. As with any guidelines on how to live your life, this book is not for everyone. I've seen for myself people sunk in gloom in cheerful and delightful country houses, and people in completely secluded surroundings who looked as if they were run off their feet. These are the people who pass on vices, transmitting them from one character to another... And association with them does a lot of damage. The Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Latin for "Moral Letters to Lucilius"), also known as the Moral Epistles and Letters from a Stoic, is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for more than ten years. Later in life, he wrote Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, or Letters from a Stoic, detailing these principles in full. Refrain from following the example of those whose craving is for attention, not their own improvement... avoid shabby attire, long hair, an unkept beard... Inwardly everything should be different, but our outward far should conform with the crowd. Every house of the day countless situations arise that call for advice, and for that advice we have to look to philosophy. Close. LETTERS FROM A STOIC ADVISORY EDITOR: BETTY RADICE LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA, statesman, philosopher, advocate and man of letters, was born at Cordoba in Spain around 4 B.C. Reading Letters from a Stoic will help you build resilience, compassion, patience and all the other virtues. If you want to feel appreciative where the gods and your life are concerned, just think how many people you've outdone. Written around 65 CE and addressed to a Roman official stationed in Sicily by the name of Lucilius, Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic are an exploration of the good life.Drawing on the rich tradition of stoic philosophical thought, Seneca advocates simple living in harmony with nature, avoidance of temptations and vice and the continuous honing of the mind through the study of philosophy. While Aurelius' Meditations is my absolute go-to Stoic text, I found Seneca's Letters From A Stoic to be a great complement. A look at my top 11 quotes & passages from Seneca's "Letters from a Stoic". Write on Medium, Are you blind for life? Download full Letters From A Stoic By Seneca Book or read online anytime anywhere, Available in PDF, ePub and Kindle. People should admire our way of life but they should at the same time find it understandable. Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing. But travel won't make a better or saner man of you. And we can achieve this if we realize that there are two classes of things attracting or repelling us. Tim Ferris, Ryan Holiday, Pete Carroll, Theodore Roosevelt all read Seneca and found him useful in their stressful lives. Memorization is not wisdom; wisdom is being able to deliver sayings yourself. But whatever you do, return from body to mind very soon. Associating with people in large numbers is actually harmful: there is not one of them that will not make some vice or other attractive to us, or leave us carrying the imprint of it or bedaubed all unawares with it. There is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves. A person who surrenders and subnets himself to her doesn't have his application deferred from day to day. Letters From A Stoic 42 minute read A little while ago, I read Letters from a Stoic by Seneca (translated and edited by Robin Campbell). READ: July 5, 2015 The Ultimate Stoic Reading List. I at any rate am ready to confess my own frailty in this respect. Letters from a Stoic (The Epistles of Seneca) Seneca. Letters from a Stoic, is the kind of book you can flip open to a random page, throw your finger down without aim, and still land upon a maxim that you can live your life by. While it is daunting and perhaps even insulting to try and distill this work into two key points, I’ll try to do so anyway: “When you wish to inquire into a man’s true worth, and to know what manner of man he is, look at him when he is naked; make him lay aside his inherited estate, his titles, and the other deceptions of fortune; let him even strip off his body. A man is as much a fool for shedding tears because he isn't going to be alive a thousands years from now. “If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according what others think, you … Letters from a Stoic book. But one that has been around for two millennia has a high probability of being around for a lot longer. There's no difference between the one and the other – you didn't exist and you won't exist – you've no concern with either period. I enjoyed it partly, I think, because I have stoical tendencies myself; I tend to be a patient, long-suffering person, one who keeps emotion under wraps and is pretty good at accepting what comes my way. The geometrician teaches me how to work out the size of my estates – rather than how to work out how much a man needs in order to have enough. 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