Sublime

Mais avant tout souviens-toi d'ôter aux choses leur fracas, de voir ce que chacune est en soi : tu n'y trouveras d'effrayant que ta propre terreur.

TO HELP US ADVANCE our practice of Stoicism, Seneca advises that we periodically meditate on the events of daily living, how we responded to these events, and how, in accordance with Stoic principles, we should have responded to them.

Seneca would say that he actually pitied people who have never experienced misfortune. “You have passed through life without an opponent,” he said. “No one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”

Cicero, the great Roman orator and statesman, later translated Stoic teaching into Latin and ensured its popularity for centuries to come. The greatest names in Stoicism – Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius – all come from the Roman period, by which point the school had left behind some of its early interest in the intricacies of logic and cosmolog

“When you are distressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can wipe this out at a moment’s notice.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS

“If anyone can prove and show to me that I think and act in error, I will gladly change it—for I seek the truth, by which no one has ever been harmed. The one who is harmed is the one who abides in deceit and ignorance.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS

Seneca gives us a model where anger is pervasive and part of our lives, but not part of the propensities of our nature. We are born with instincts of love, openness and accord. As we grow, we tend to become attached to external goods and our own safety. Aggression results from this interplay between our natures and the circumstances in which we fin

things that are only mildly desirable are vigorously sought after.” —SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 75.11