John Vespasian

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    Seneca on leading a life of virtue

    The term “virtue” has become so overused that it is healthy to look at it with suspicion. Unfortunately, it often happens that people will invoke virtue to further their personal interests and then try to portray themselves as ethical paragons. Indeed, we should be sceptical of their high motives. Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) had good…

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    Seneca’s best advice for dealing with pain and suffering

    Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) wrote hundreds of pages about reducing stress during difficult times. Modern readers can benefit from Seneca’s wise recommendations for dealing with pain and suffering. I am going to summarise those recommendations to the extent that we can still apply them today. [1] Emotional overreaction should be avoided because it’s a sure…

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    Seneca on dealing with pain and suffering

    Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) made some worthy recommendations about how deal with pain and suffering. Unfortunately, he also dispensed plenty of irrational, harmful advice. It’s important to tell the difference between one and the other. For instance, Seneca was wrong in regarding suffering and pain as predominantly mental constructs. In his 13th Letter to Lucilius,…

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    Seneca’s recipe for achieving a balanced life

    Cooking recipes are hard to carry out perfectly the first time if the process is too complex. Even if the recipe is described in great detail, one must deal with variability in the ingredients in terms of quality and freshness, cooking temperature, etc. Seneca (4 BC- 65 AC) gave philosophical recipes that aren’t easier to…

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    Seneca on achieving a balanced life

    When people advise me to embrace a balanced lifestyle, I’m always interested in hearing the details. What do they mean by “balanced”? Do they mean that I should allocate equal time to work, sleep and play? Or that I should balance out my interests or my friends, and devote equal time to each of them?…

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    Perspectives on Seneca’s advice to live simply

    I find it surprising that so many people equate living simply with living in poverty. They regard deprivation and discomfort as the prerequisites of simplicity. They abhor high ambitions in particular, because they require complex planning. Seneca (4 BC- 65 AD) contributed to the confusion because his 89th Letter to Lucilius advises readers to prepare…

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    Practicability of Seneca’s advice to live simply

    Despite being himself wealthy, Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) wrote extensively about the advantages of living simply. He came up with dozens of examples that support his advice, but is Seneca someone we can trust? And is it workable to put his advice into practice in our century? In his dialogue “On the Shortness of Life,”…

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    Seneca on living simply

    Historians seldom remark that exoticism or strangeness add value to the advice of ancient philosophers. I mean exoticism and strangeness in the sense of “Vervremdung,” the concept coined by Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) in his theatre theory. By “Vervremdung,” Brecht meant that acerbic criticism will meet less resistance if conveyed on stage through exotic stories and…

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    Productiveness and Seneca’s advice to live in accordance with nature

    The ancient Roman Republican values can be illustrated by individuals like Cincinnatus or Scipio Africanus. Their actions embody valour, equanimity, and above all, productiveness. Cincinnatus (519-430 BC) was a farmer, but found himself appointed to lead the Roman army for a while. He did his best to win the war, and as soon as it…

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    Realism of Seneca’s advice to live in accordance with nature

    It’s hypocritical to recommend poverty when one is wealthy, or to recommend passivity when one has displayed remarkable industriousness for decades. Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) is to blame on both counts, I am afraid. Nonetheless, he did not mean to deceive his readers. He was sincere in his feelings, convinced that he was dispensing good…

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