Category: Seneca
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Seneca on dealing with betrayal
Forgiveness has become the universal recipe for betrayal, at least theoretically. Moral leaders tell their flock to forget what they have suffered, purify their hearts, and move on with their lives. In the early Roman Empire, Seneca was the most notable philosopher to preach forgiveness as a recipe for dealing with betrayal. His recommendations are…
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Was Seneca wrong about revenge?
Let us beware of people who preach passivity because they might be trying to slow us down. If they have already taken advantage of the situation, they might be preaching resignation to prevent their victims from taking action. Seneca condemned revenge, but did his idea of revenge also include creative, peaceful solutions? When he wrote…
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Seneca’s thoughts on revenge
Most philosophers get it wrong about revenge, and Seneca was no exception. In his essays titled “On Anger” and “On Clemency,” he recommended to forget injury and insult, and abandon the idea of revenge. Seneca gave extensive arguments against revenge when conceived as warlike. He said that, if we seek revenge, we’ll become “slaves to…
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What Seneca taught about dealing with failure
In the next paragraphs, I am going to summarise the advice from Seneca about dealing with failure. He devoted a couple of decades to compiling his advice, not only from his personal experience, but also from other notable persons in the early Roman Empire. Seneca called for keeping adequate margins of error. I mean having…
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The main benefits from reading Seneca today
Few people read books written a hundred years ago. Even fewer show interest in books written two thousand years ago. I am one of those exceptions, one of the few who regularly devotes time to reading Seneca. I love reading Seneca’s essays and his Letters to Lucilius because they deliver one important benefit: They prompt…
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Why should one read Seneca today?
The question assumes that people are still reading books in our century, instead of watching movies, playing video-games, or practising sports. Indeed, a percentage of the population still enjoys reading. Those are the only ones who purchase books. Thus, the question is wrongly formulated. Instead of asking why we should read Seneca today, I should…
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Seneca’s quotes about anger
There is a perfect recipe for never getting angry or annoyed. If we stop caring and become indifferent, we won’t experience irritation when things don’t go our way. The problem with this recipe is that it will also destroy our motivation for achieving success and happiness. Seneca reflected extensively about the cause of anger and…
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Why Seneca praised solitude
Few philosophers in history have analysed the advantages, disadvantages, and consequences of solitude. Seneca is one of those few. I regard his observations and advice in this area as particularly worthy. Seneca wrote the essay “On the Tranquillity of the Soul” precisely to explain how to achieve peace of mind. Solitude is one of his…
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Seneca on finding joy in solitude
Compared to Ancient Greece and Rome, people nowadays can easily choose to be as lonely or as gregarious as they wish. Our ability to give shape to our lifestyle is much larger than in the times of Aristotle (384-322 BC) or Seneca. However, the benefits that we can draw from solitude have not changed through…
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A summary of Seneca’s advice on personal fulfilment
High productivity depends on quality-consciousness. There is simply no other way to sell sizeable amounts of products and services at a profit. If we do not deliver quality, customers are going to complain, and we will have to devote our resources to satisfying those complaints. Thus, if we want to achieve our goals in business…
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