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Seneca’s examples of a virtuous life
There is often a considerable distance between the sayings and the actions of philosophers. Especially when they employ a grandiloquent tone, I prefer to look at their biography and see for myself if they are following their own advice. Seneca was better than most in this respect. I admire in particular his strong self-discipline in…
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Practical advice from Seneca on leading a life of virtue
Although Seneca employed the term “virtue” inconsistently, his incoherence did not prevent him from making profound observations about human nature, virtue, personal success and happiness. In his 71st Letter to Lucilius, he uses a beautiful metaphor to define a virtuous life. He compares good persons to archers who choose their target carefully. Good individuals are…
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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 had good intentions, but created…
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Seneca’s best advice for dealing with pain and suffering
Seneca wrote hundreds of pages about how to grief and fear in 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. Emotional overreaction should be avoided because it’s a sure recipe…
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Seneca on dealing with pain and suffering
Seneca made some worthy recommendations about how to deal with pain and suffering. Unfortunately, he also dispensed plenty of irrational, harmful ones. It’s important to tell the difference between his good and bad advice. For instance, Seneca offered solid advice for addressing pain and suffering when they are mental constructs, but does his method work…
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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 gave philosophical recipes that are not any easier to carry out…
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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 contributed to the confusion because his 89th Letter to Lucilius advises readers to prepare for death, meditate daily…
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Practicability of Seneca’s advice to live simply
Despite being himself wealthy, Seneca 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 essay “On the Shortness of Life,” Seneca recounts the…
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Seneca on living simply
Historians seldom remark that exoticism or strangeness adds value to the advice of ancient philosophers. I mean exoticism and strangeness in the sense of “Verfremdung,” the concept coined by Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) in his theatre theory. By “Verfremdung,” Brecht meant that acerbic criticism will meet less resistance if conveyed on stage through exotic stories and…
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