There is 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 (4 BC-65 AD) reflected extensively about the cause of anger and irritation. He viewed those as the root of evil and violence in general. He wrote that, if we steer away from anger and keep a cool head, we will do ourselves a great favour.
In his dialogue “On Anger,” Seneca characterised anger as a form of mental illness. He was referring to hot, explosive ire. I would not put minor feelings of irritation in the same category.
Seneca condemned all sorts of anger, irrespective of reasons or context. He did not differentiate between the anger felt by a victim of injustice, a drunken fool or an irrational bully.
All his examples though portray evil people. He rarely takes into account the situation of people who have been wronged. I understand why Seneca did not make the differentiation. In his lifetime, he had witnessed many injustices, but rarely saw any chance of remedying them.
Seneca: Anger is a form of temporary insanity
When Seneca categorizes anger as “temporary insanity,” he is referring to King Cambyses II of Persia (558-522 BC), who got enraged while he was drunk and killed a boy for no reason.
He also mentions how Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) became extremely angry because he had been criticised by one of his best generals. He reacted by killing the man on the spot, even if the criticism had been sound and well-intended.
Those cases illustrate Seneca’s categorization of “temporary insanity,” but do not typify everyday angry reactions. Seneca is arguing that anger is “unnatural and superfluous,” and that we should eradicate it completely.
I find his arguments extremely weak and unrealistic. People feel angry naturally when they are mistreated or abused. Their feelings are not superfluous or wasteful. If those individuals did not experience anger, they would not combat mistreatments and abuses.
Seneca gives an outright nonsensical example, saying that a mariner should not feel angry about the storm that is capsizing his ship because his anger won’t improve the situation.
Indeed, it’s irrational to get angry at natural phenomena, but this does not mean that that it is irrational to get angry at abuse and mistreatment. If we deprive individuals of their feelings of outrage in the face of injustice, we will see the number of victimisers grow by leaps and bounds.
In his dialogue “On Anger,” Seneca keeps giving examples of irrational, wasteful anger. He wants to present those cases as archetypes of anger, but they are not.
Most people realize that it is indeed a waste of time to grow angry with small children, who make innocent mistakes out of ignorance, or with people who perform poorly because of their physical or mental impediments.
Seneca is wrong in portraying those cases as the archetypes of anger. If anything, those are examples of wasteful, irrational emotional reactions, but most people know better than that.
Seneca: We should make a pause before reacting
Not only does Seneca misrepresent the typical situations in which people feel angry, but gives fairly poor advice to prevent disproportionate emotions.
“We should make a pause before we react, so that we do not react in a disproportionate manner,” advised Quintus Sextius, a Stoic thinker who had lived two generations before Seneca.
I regard Sextius’ recommendation as impractical because of the difficulty of suppressing one’s feelings by counting to ten, and because some situations call for a strong, quick reaction to prevent further damage.
Seneca had endorsed Sextius’ advice and invoked Socrates (470-399 BC) in his support. Socrates had condemned angry reactions as irrational when he had suffered a minor insult, and opted for ignoring it altogether.
“Forbearance and forgiveness constitute the best reaction,” wrote Seneca in his dialogue “On Anger.” His recommendation is preceding by one generation the Christian doctrine on anger.
Seneca: We should forbear and forgive
The doctrines put forward by Seneca in this respect barely differ from those preached by Paul and the other Apostles. The foundations of Seneca’s advice are not theological, but when it comes to the implementation, they resemble Christianity.
Surprisingly, Seneca provides examples that undermine and contradict his advice. He refers to Homer’s “Iliad” and its hero, the Greek warrior Achilles, who only returns to battle when his friend Patroclus is killed by the Trojans. Achilles grows angry, returns to the battlefield, and changes the course of the war.
Similarly, the Carthaginian general Hannibal (247-183 BC) inflicted a massive defeat on Rome at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC because he had been extremely angry against Rome. In the ensuing weeks, he let his anger cool down, and failed to act decisively and finish off his enemies.
Seneca incurs contradictions because he doesn’t distinguish between rational and irrational anger. On the one hand, he praises Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) for restraining his anger and pardoning his enemies Brutus and Cassius. On the other hand, is it not true that Caesar had made a mistake because those two men ended up assassinating him?
The missing element in Seneca’s views on anger
Proportionality is the missing concept in Seneca’s dialogue “On Anger.” His overall condemnation of anger does not make any distinctions between right and wrong, rational or irrational, proportionate or disproportionate.
His 121st Letter to Lucilius improves somewhat the advice, reasoning and conclusion provided in the dialogue “On Anger” because it places emotional reactions in wider context.
Instead of condemning anger indiscriminately, Seneca gives more important to self-sufficiency in this Letter. If we possess a strong level of self-sufficiency, we won’t get irritated, angry, or litigious unless the situation rationally calls for it.
Seneca blanket condemnation of all anger as irrational does not leave sufficient margin of action. We do need to reflect and avoid foolish reactions, but this does not mean that we should suppress the human natural desire for justice and peacefulness.
If you are interested in applying rational ideas in all areas of activity, I recommend my book titled “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief.”