The concept of stress in our century is dramatically different from the concepts in prior centuries. People in the Middle Ages or in Ancient Rome wouldn’t have understood our concerns for issues such as noise pollution and work overload.
Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) wrote extensively about worries and preoccupations, but those would involve life-or-death threats. I am referring to people worrying about not having enough food to eat tomorrow, or being killed in an upcoming battle.
Nonetheless, Seneca’s insights on this matter have perennial value. Few philosophers in history had devoted so much effort to understanding the cause of stress, and devising methods to combat it effectively.
In his 53rd Letter to Lucilius, Seneca mentions the aristocrat Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (70-8 BC) and his preoccupation with death. Maecenas was constantly consulting physicians about how to prevent sickness and prolong his lifespan.
Nevertheless, Maecenas passed away at sixty-two, which is a normal lifespan for wealthy individuals in Ancient Rome. If Maecenas had lived in our century, he might have received better advice and lived a few decades more.
Why Seneca criticised Gaius Cilnius Maecenas
Seneca considered that, due to his acute concern with death, Maecenas had wasted precious time. Maecenas had devoted a large chunk of the present to worrying about the future, but in the end, he had not drawn any benefit.
I must question Seneca’s argument at this point because we don’t really know if Maecenas had drawn any benefit. The fact that he passed away at sixty-two does not mean that his efforts had proven fruitless.
We do not know if Maecenas would have lived a shorter life if he had not consulted those physicians. Or maybe his lifespan would have been the same, but the physicians had enabled him to stay healthy and avoid debilitating sickness until the end.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Seneca was right and that Maecenas had not drawn any benefit from his worry about death. Seneca regarded Maecenas’ attitude as unwise. If Maecenas had become an adept of Stoicism, theorized Seneca, he would not have wasted any time worrying.
What is Seneca’s recipe against worry and preoccupation? The 53rd Letter to Lucilius emphasises psychological self-training, that is, a vivid intellectual disputation of the threat and its dire consequences.
Maecenas could have told himself that every human being has to die one day, that a longer lifespan is not that important, and that it’s foolish to devote one’s energies to worrying about death.
Effectiveness of Seneca’s recipe against stress
Seneca also mentions his contemporary Tullius Marcellinus, a hypochondriac similar to Maecenas. The acute fear of death, argues Seneca, had actually shortened Marcellinus’ lifespan.
His 53rd Letter to Lucilius notes that a fearful person tends to suffer more severely due to his imagined threats than from their actual materialization.
Science has proven that constant stress can undermine one’s health. Seneca’s assessment seems accurate in this respect, but how effective are his recipes for combatting stress?
I’m reluctant to believe that one can overcome stress simply through mind games. Maecenas must have been a fairly sharp individual. I am sure he must have realized that his obsession with death was doing him a disservice, but that he still viewed the issue as a top priority.
Even if Maecenas had spent hours talking to Seneca, would the problem have been solved? Would Seneca have succeeded in convincing Maecenas that it is not worth it to worry about health and longevity.
I think that Seneca’s efforts would have failed. Possibly, he might have calmed down Maecenas for a short while, but the problem would have reoccurred in the ensuing days.
As soon as Maecenas was alone, he would have returned to his prior thinking patterns. Why? Because he fundamentally disagreed with Seneca.
My distrust in Seneca’s recipe comes from my observation of today’s reality. Millions of people regularly take medications against anxiety. I find it hard to believe that they would be all cured through the adoption of Stoic philosophy.
Seneca and the Stoicism practised by Sextius
Seneca had missed a key factor in his 53rd Letter to Lucilius, a factor that goes beyond mind games. He got close to the truth when he mentioned the Roman philosopher Sextius, whom he must have known personally.
Sextius had adopted the habit of bathing each morning in cold water in order to strengthen his body and soul. We do not know if Sextius actually benefited from his self-chastisement, but his method entailed two remarkable aspects.
First, he carried out a tangible action; and second, he did it every morning. I find these aspects missing in Seneca’s call for improved thought patterns.
Seneca’s technique is intellectually sound, but will stressed people practise it assiduously? Will they make the effort each day to contest their irrational ideas and replace them by better ones?
Sextius was on the right track, but Seneca failed to perceive the importance of regular, tangible action. A long conversation with Seneca would have proven insufficient to get Maecenas to improve his thought patterns.
However, by imitating Sextius, Maecenas could have made a diary entry each evening, recording in writing how much he had been worrying about death, and whether he regarded those thoughts as rational.
Furthermore, he could have limited his daily worrying time, and do all his worrying in the early morning before breakfast. If fears returned during the day, he just needed to push them to the next morning.
Similarly, Maecenas could have limited his consultations with physicians to once a week, for instance each Friday noon, and shift his preoccupations to that particular time slot.
Little by little, he could have reduced the frequency of those actions. I mean fewer diary entries, less worrying time, fewer medical consultations, etc. In this way, he would have followed Sextius’ example and achieved steady progress.
Seneca and Sextius are both loyal to Stoicism. Their goals are identical, but their mechanics emphasise different aspects. While I find Seneca’s logic impeccable, I would place stronger hopes on the regular and tangible nature of Sextius’ method.
If you are interested in applying rational ideas to smooth out difficult situations, I recommend my book titled “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief.”