We are not better than others due to our circumstances, our occupation, or our place in our society. . Letters from a Stoic book. Trust breeds trust. It’s the difference between liking and hating it. Once we’ve determined that we have a friend that is a good influence, and that our connection goes beyond utility, we must trust our friend absolutely. © Nathaniel Eliason, 2020 | You're looking great today | This site built on, Get My Searchable Collection of 200+ Book Notes, Get My Searchable Collection of 250+ Book Notes. Letters from a Stoic, which Seneca wrote toward the end of his life from approximately 63 AD to 65 AD, expands upon these lessons. But while he does not hanker after what he has lost, he does prefer not to lose them. Our bodies will eventually fail us as we age and illness strikes, but enduring these eventualities is easier when we have strong minds. People who spend their whole life travelling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships. ... Summary Notes. The Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Latin for "Moral Letters to Lucilius"), also known as the Moral Epistles and Letters from a Stoic, is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for more than ten years. Avoid shabby attire, long hair, an unkempt beard, an outspoken dislike of silverware, sleeping on the ground and all other misguided means to self-advertisement. Crowds can lead us to losing control of ourselves, However, Seneca does not urge us to isolate ourselves from all of society. ISBN: 978-0140442106 READ: July 5, 2015 ENJOYABLE: 7/10 INSIGHTFUL: 9/10 ACTIONABLE: 7/10. Besides learning from our mistakes, or occasionally reflecting on a fond memory, dwelling on the past does us no good – it’s already over with! We have broken down the central lessons from the book below. ‘If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people’s opinions, you will never be rich.’. While grief is only natural, we should not succumb to it. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson, Jack Butcher, and Tim Ferriss, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The wise man needs hands and eyes and a great number of things that are required for the purposes of day-to-day life; but he lacks nothing, for lacking something implies that it is a necessity and nothing, to the wise man, is a necessity.”, “Supposing they say they are happy, will their own opinions to this effect make them happy? Unless expressively said, all quotes are from Seneca. . The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of … We should lead quietly by example and then help those curious rather than trying to proselytize. Our goals should make sense to us, and we shouldn’t worry about others judging them. However, Seneca does not urge us to isolate ourselves from all of society. Seneca was sentenced to death by his own hand after he was accused of participating in a plot to assassinate the Roman emperor Nero, the most well known of his former pupils. But where do we start on this self-improvement journey? , that’s all we should want from it – we shouldn’t be lusting after pillows with pom-poms or perfectly polished floors. On top of being happy with the essentials, developing our inner self is key. Ask nature: she will tell you that she made both day and night. But Seneca reminds us that the judgments of others do not matter as much as our own – we must strive to live with virtue and integrity, because at the end of the day it is ourselves we must face. Our positions can change at any moment – slaves become masters, masters become slaves, princes become paupers, and so on — we should not look down on anyone based on our current, possibly temporary, positions. like they might betray us, then we may bring about a self-fulfilling prophecy. What about losing a friend? Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. No one should feel pride in anything that is not his own. Man’s ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he was born. We should be cautious of their influence. ‘I’m suffering severe pain,’ you may say. Is our potential friend a good influence? Well does it stop you suffering it if you endure it in a womanish fashion? It’s not because they’re hard that we lose confidence; they’re hard because we lack the confidence. —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic. To circumstance or to death? With afflictions of the spirit, though, the opposite is the case: the worse a person is, the less he feels it. , only about achieving them for our own purposes. For a holiday can be celebrated without extravagant festivity. Nobody can be in acute pain and feel it for long. But the right thing is to shun both courses: you should neither become like the bad because they are many, nor be an enemy of the many because they are unlike you. What will come, will come. This also goes for when we make positive progress — when we are further along on our journey, we should also not “show off” our commitment to Stoicism. What about losing a friend? Crowds can lead us to indulge in our vices in ways we may not on our own. does not demand those kinds of sacrifices. , as mentioned above. 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