1st Letter
Summary
Seneca starts his first letter strong. He writes about the importance of the appreciation of time.
Thoughts
I wondered how Seneca would start his first letter and how relevant it would be for me or other today’s readers. It could have been quite dry or hard to get into, but it turns out to be the very opposite. Seneca underlines the imporance of time and how wasteful we tend to be with it. He even ranks the worst ways of wasting time:
A large part of life escapes people when they do bad things, the largest when they do nothing, the whole life when they do secondary things.
Seneca does not say that he doesn’t waste time, but knows exactly where he lost it. He keeps account of where he spends his time.
This idea reminded me a lot of a challenge in David Goggins’ book ‘Can’t Hurt Me’. It’s challenge #8, which you can find in more detail here. In this challenge Goggins wants you as well to track you time very detailed. To be honest – that’s definitely something I could do better. Regarding my social media consumption I achieved managing it quite well with the Android app ‘Block Apps & Sites‘, which I can highly recommend.
2nd Letter
Summary
Seneca recommends Lucilius to dwell on certain great minds and let them really shape him. He condems reading to much of everything:
Nowhere is who everywhere is.
Nevertheless, Seneca also says that he explores from time to time the ideas from opposing thinkers. He mentions in particular a quote from Epicure:
A beautiful thing is a happy poverty.
– Epicure
He rephrases:
Not who has little, but who wants more is poor.
Thoughts
I’m astonsihed by how applicable these ideas still are today. The first quote could be summarized in one word: Focus. That’s also a keyword in the present-day self-improvement world – rightly. I find it interesting, how we still come to the same conclusions or how these ideas have survived over the centuries.
It’s great to see that Seneca was humble enough to study other thinkers as well and gave them credit where it was due. Something I wished we would see more often in today’s politics.
Not wanting more, but being happy with what we have. A lesson we often think of in financial terms, which is okay. Anyhow, I find it appropriate applying it in other areas as well. Being happy with a simple meal. Being happy with a smaller goal. As Alex Hormozi put quite well:
Whenever I want something that I don’t have, I’ve made a contract with myself to be unhappy until I get it.
– Alex Hormozi
3rd Letter
Summary
In this letter we learn that Lucilius gave letters to a friend of his, which the friend then delivered to Seneca. Lucilius points out that he does not wish Seneca to talk with his friend about too personal stuff about him, since he finds the thought of it uncomfortable.
Consequently, Seneca gives Lucilius a lesson about friends and what we should reveal them:
Think long and hard about whether you can take someone as a friend. If you come to the conclusion that it should happen, welcome them with all your heart! Speak to him as freely as you speak to yourself.
Additionally, he writes:
If you think him reliable, you will make him so; for some have taught to deceive while they feared to be deceived, […]
Thoughts
Personally, I find this particular letter very interesting. On one hand, because it shows the very human feelings most of us have. Seeing that people 2000 years ago went through the same troubles is quite refreshing and gives these letter character. On the other hand, because I find it a somewhat challenging advice. I’m surely more the introverted type of a guy. Opening up myself about personal stuff even to friends can be hard for me. Anywho, it’s definitely somehting I will try to do more in the future.
I find this also pretty good measure for deciding if someone really is or should be a friend: Can I open up to this person? As Seneca has pointed out, we will become deceivers if we fear to be deceived.
4th Letter
Summary
Lucilus struggles (understandbly) with Senecas’ idea “to bring the mind to a point where it can scorn life”. In other words Seneca tries giving Lucilius an alternative outlook on death – by accepting it.
Thoughts
The context of the words “scorn life” is here very important. When I first read the paragraph I was stunned. Why the heck should I scorn life? But translations are tricky (by the way I specifically looked up an English translation for this one). I decided not to interpret to much in it. The general message seems more important to me, which is accepting death.
[Y]ou will thus understand that some things are less to be dreaded, precisely because they inspire us with great fear. No evil is great which is the last evil of all.
In this sense death has something liberating, which I can agree with. Although I wish to have a long and healthy life, I never would want to live forevery. That’s stuff which curses are made of…
No good thing renders its possessor happy, unless his mind is reconciled to the possibility of loss; nothing, however, is lost with less discomfort than that which, when lost, cannot be missed.
Yeah, I had to read this part multiple times too. It could be summarized in: Be prepared for death. I think the problem is many people tend to avoid a real confrontation with death, which eventually makes the inevitable confrontation with death even worse. I believe by consciously facing death daily, we live a wiser and life and make better decisions.
5th Letter
Summary
Seneca praises Lucilius’ effort of getting better each day and encourages him to continue to do so.
He also gives very general advice on how to handle wealth and poverty and what kind of mindset one should have.
Great is he who handles clay vessels as well as silver, but not less is he who handles silver as well as clay vessels.
At the end of his letter he makes the bold assumption:
Hope is followed by fear.
Thoughts
Again an interesting one… The first topic of getting better daily reminded me of another idea of the today’s self-improvement world: Getting 1% better each day. And idea I think I heard the first time from Captain Sinbad aka Nikhil. It makes sense to me, since the alternative is getting worse or stagnation, which ultimately is getting worse as well.
The first quote I wrote out quite struck me. I think there are a lot of people who consciously or unconsciously averse money. Maybe because of bad experiences with rich people or just a general hate against captialism. Seneca writing so consciously about this topic assured me of the belief that becoming rich has to be followed by the right mindset. Otherwise, you will become corrupt. Something we see very often what happens to teenage actors, who suddenly become rich and famous.
His thoughts about fear reminded me of the famous quote from ‘Dune’:
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
– Frank Herbert, Dune
I am not too sure what to make of it. I mean, I understand that fear can be a source of unnecessary unhappiness. However, sometimes having fear makes sense… Although… No. I’m struggling. I mean, I would have argued that it makes sense to fear living on the street or losing his job etc. But I guess ultimately we have to let the fear pass in order to react appropriately. I believe that makes sense…
I think Seneca talks especially of fear that we feel when we overthink things. He adds:
No one is unhappy just because of the present.
Luckily, my mind does not tend to overthink too often, but the times it did happen it was because of projecting thoughts into the future. Again – we are humans. Our ability to think ahead and plan into the future makes sense and is actually very valuable, but it becomes a problem if it petrifies us (like a soldier staring at Medusa). I struggled in the past a lot with the fear of failing exams and it really became a crippling fear. I could not study because my head was in the future. In this regard, I will really take living in the present to heart.
General Thoughts
I find it kind of weird that we only see the letters from Seneca to Lucilius and not the other way around. Even more astonishing is that we understand everything, although we hear solely one side of the dialogue… Of course – Seneca is the teacher and Lucilius his disciple but still. I imagine Seneca being one of those guys at a party, who talks and talks with out asking his counterpart any questions whatsoever. But then again – Seneca was probably not the guy going to parties.
