Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) wrote extensively about Stoicism and developed its principles in minute detail. In his dialogues and in the Letters to Lucilius, he illustrated those principles with a vast array of historical anecdotes.
I am going to summarise Seneca’s wisdom in four insights that anyone can put into practice today. Feasibility is the main criterion employed in my summary. I’m concentrating on ideas of permanent value, even if Seneca had developed them more than two thousand years ago.
Seneca’s dialogue “On the Shortness of Life”
The most crucial philosophical lesson is learning to use our time effectively. Seneca devoted his dialogue titled “On the Shortness of Life” to presenting this insight.
He defended the thesis that human life is long enough to do all the important things that ensure our happiness. The problem is that we get distracted by unimportant issues and waste years in the pursuit of inconsequential goals.
Frantic activity tends to be at odds with effectiveness, warns Seneca. To prove his statement, he pointed to his contemporary Marcus Vinicius, who had devoted three decades of his life to a political career, starting at the lower echelons and climbing the ladder one step at a time.
At the end of his life, Vinicius complained that he had been pursuing the wrong goals. He had filled his years with frantic activity, but drawn little satisfaction from the outcome. If had chosen his goals more carefully, he would have been happier.
Seneca’s observations on stress and anxiety
We tend to worry too much about possible catastrophes. Psychologist Albert Ellis (1913-2007) blamed this tendency for a great deal of unnecessary misery. Our fear of potential issues is consuming present energies without improving our future.
Seneca recounts how Fabius, a servant of Emperor Claudius (10-54 AD), had one spilled wine during an official dinner. The guests had been annoyed and, after the dinner, Fabius couldn’t sleep one minute in the whole night because he was convinced that he would be severely punished the next day.
Nevertheless, nothing happened to Fabius the next day, nor the day or the week after. It seems that Emperor Claudius had forgotten the incident, or that he looked upon Fabius’ fault less sternly that Fabius had feared.
For days, Fabius had been deadly worried about a potential punishment, but nothing happened to him. His anxiety and lack of sleep had been caused by his imagination.
Fabius had overrated the risk of punishment because he did not know that Claudius, as a matter of principle, was unlikely to pursue insignificant matters; he had much bigger problems to address than a servant spilling some wine during dinner.
The incident, recounts Seneca, had taken place in the year 50 AD. Claudius died four years later. I wonder if Fabius spent those four years worrying about Claudius’ potential reaction if the incident ever came back to his memory.
How much unnecessary stress and anxiety do we impose on ourselves? Are we making the same mistake as Fabius? Are we overrating the chances of a catastrophe taking place tomorrow?
Seneca’s views on success and popularity
We need to adopt a healthy attitude about achievement, wealth, success and popularity. In the 2nd Letter to Lucilius, Seneca noted that we tend to obsess about how popular we are, and how much we achieve and earn. Seneca’s observations in this area are particularly useful in our century.
Seneca recounts the story of Calvisius Sabinus, one of his contemporaries. Despite his wealth, Sabinus felt inferior due to his poor education. He was afraid of speaking in public, going to social gatherings, and expressing his opinions.
Since his manner of speech lacked elegance, Sabinus feared ridicule. He spent vast amounts on hiring instructors, but those failed to turn him into a polished, self-confident individual.
The problem is that Sabinus was placing too much weight on his level of popularity. In reality, not so many people would detect Sabinus’ lack of intellectual polish, and even those, were unlikely to make a big fuss about it.
How much time do we waste on irrelevant considerations. If we want to learn more, achieve more, and earn more, it’s wiser to devise a plan and carry it out little by little. There is no need to agonise about being ridiculed because of our deficiencies.
Seneca’s call for making the best of each day
We should make our plans according to normal lifetime expectations. Depending on the country and circumstances, we could reasonably expect to live eighty, ninety years, or perhaps longer in some cases.
Seneca provided extensive advice on time management. In the 101st Letter to Lucilius, he recommended his readers to live each day fully, trying to make the best of it, no worrying about the past and the future excessively.
We could get better results if we concentrate on the business at hand, instead of letting our mind worry about past mistakes, future risks, or our personal inadequacy.
Trying to advance too fast is as erroneous as staying passive for fear of failure. When we look ahead, we should think long-term and let our daily gains accumulate. Exceptional objectives require exceptional effort deployed across time.
Let us discard unrealistic expectations. We shouldn’t entrust our well-being to luck or miracles. There is no perfect time for starting a major project that is going to take years to complete anyway.
Seneca never met Aulus Gellius (125-180 AD), an aspiring writer that belongs to the next generation. Gellius would spend his life waiting for the perfect moment to write an important philosophical book.
Gallius worked for decades in public administration, always longing for the day when he would retire and devote himself to writing; he had prepared himself thoroughly by studying Greek authors and perfecting his Latin grammar.
Unfortunately for Gallius, the day never came. Eventually, he fell ill and had to retire from his official duties. Although he lived still for a decade, he was too ill to do any writing. When he passed away, all that remained were some notes about Latin grammar.
If Gallius had studied Seneca’s philosophy, he would have started his literary project earlier in life. Few people go beyond the normal life expectancy, but that’s not a reason to despair. It is only a reason to make better plans and carry them out faster.
If you are interested in putting rational ideas into practice in all sort of situations, I recommend you my book “Thriving in difficult times.”