September 24, 2022 9:02 am
“Everyone, brother Gallione, wants to live happily,” wrote the Roman philosopher and statesman Lucio Anneo Seneca to his brother around 58 AD, “but when it comes to recognizing what makes life happy, here you are. they groped “. It is very possible that Seneca founded this claim on himself. He was an expert on happiness and throughout his life he wrote about the ancient concept of eudaemonia, which roughly means “living in harmony with nature” or perhaps, in today’s parlance, “inner peace”. Yet his life was anything but peaceful.
At the time of Emperor Claudius, after years of serious health problems, Seneca was exiled from Rome, where he then returned to be a tutor and later as an adviser to the Emperor Nero, by whom he was first loved, then accused (probably unjustly) of conspiracy, and therefore forced to take his own life. As the creator of the Daily Stoic website, Ryan Holiday, noted in an email he sent me, “the fact that he could get out of bed in the morning, not to mention the ability to smile, was a feat of strenuous human endurance. “.
No doubt all of this was more heartbreaking than what you endure in everyday life – did you think your boss was bad? – but maybe you can still mirror it. You want to be happy and well, but the messy circumstances of your existence torment you relentlessly, distracting you from those habits of thought and action that may help you find pleasure and remember the meaning of your life.
Facing the chaos
Seneca wrote his essay Of drunken beef during the difficult last years he spent with Nero – the form is that of advice to his brother, but no doubt also to himself – on what needs to be done to maintain equanimity in the face of personal chaos. Each paragraph is a jewel and is worth dedicating all the time you have to it. But luckily for us, he also lists eleven of the most important lessons he believed should be followed in order to achieve peace. They are as relevant today as they were two millennia ago.
I will look death in the face with the same mood I have when I hear about it
- Seneca isn’t suggesting laughing at funerals or crying at comedies, nor is she saying sadness and laughter are a bad thing. He is simply urging us to manage the emotional extremes so that they are not the ones to manipulate us. And that’s great advice: In 2020, French researchers studied the relationship between an equal mood and various measurements of feelings and behavior. They found that serenity produced fewer negative states, such as overweight, catastrophism, and neuroses.
I will endure any fatigue with fortitude
- One of the great lessons of modern research is that physical and intellectual fitness are fundamental to a happy life. Two of the lifestyle habits of older people who are happy and in good shape are continuing to learn and healthy exercise. As a general rule, read and walk every day, two activities that are as revolutionary today as they were in Seneca’s day. Or, if you are feeling really efficient, just walk around listening to a book!
I will despise riches, whether they exist or not and I will no longer be sad or more proud depending on whether they shine around me or elsewhere
- This lesson is much deeper than “money does not bring happiness”. Seneca’s claim means that attachment to riches will lead to unhappiness, and research couldn’t support that more clearly. In 2017, for example, by writing in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, some researchers showed that materialism can reduce well-being and increase depression.
I will look at all the lands as if they were mine, mine as if they belong to everyone
- This lesson expands on lesson 3 and states that unhappiness comes not only from wanting material things, but also from holding on to what you have. This idea is present in many religious and philosophical traditions. It resembles, for example, what Catholics call “solidarity”: the idea that we are all sisters and brothers, and that therefore (to give an example) our ownership of property is fundamentally a management aimed at the well-being of all.
I will live in the belief that I was born for others and I will thank nature for it: how could it have acted better in my interest? He gave me to everyone else and everyone else to me alone
If I have something then I will not be stingy but not even a wasteful
- This lesson is a version of the old saying “all in moderation,” but it goes beyond the claim that moderation is a morally superior activity: according to Seneca, it also leads to inner peace. Again, research appears to support this claim. It is easy to realize this in cases such as drinking and eating, but moderation is also advocated for the most virtuous behaviors. In this sense, hard work, for example, should not become Workaholic.
I will truly believe mine what I did well to donate and I will not evaluate the benefits from the number or the weight but from the esteem I will have for those who receive them: it will never be too much what I can give to those who deserve it.
- The idea here is that the true value of what I do is not how much it costs me, but how much it benefits others. For example, the true value of your work is not your salary, but rather how much it helps others. Altruism may not pay the rent, but if you take this lesson to heart, you can change your priorities and maybe even find a better job.
I will do everything according to conscience without relying on the opinion of others and, even if it is only me who knows what I do, I will behave as if everyone could see me
- This lesson is twofold: first, resist social confrontation; second, to act in private as well as in public. The first lesson is a cornerstone of psychological literature and probably explains in large part why social networks – with which we constantly confront strangers and friends – are harmful to the well-being of many people. The second lesson states that integrity and consistency lead to happiness, and that hypocrisy leads to unhappiness. Researchers have shown that the “self-perception of insincerity” damages our human need to see ourselves as authentic, consistent and flawless people.
I will be affable with friends and meek and indulgent with enemies
- This ancient teaching – “love your enemies,” in the biblical formulation – underlies many philosophies that seek to put an end to our tendency to hate our enemies. “Love has redemptive power in it,” said Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1957 sermon. “And there is a power in it that ultimately transforms individuals.” In my research, too, I have shown that loving despite differences is not only practical, but can also be a source of immense joy.
I will consider the world my homeland and the gods my guide, they who are always present and judge my every gesture and every word.
- This advice elevates the second part of lesson 8 to a higher level: I must not just act as if others are looking at me, but as if God is looking at me. One study showed that getting believers and non-believers to think about god or associated concepts before engaging in an experiment where they could voluntarily give money to a stranger or keep it for themselves resulted in more than double the generosity. compared to when religious concepts were not introduced. When secular moral institutions such as “society” or “jurors” are brought up, the effect is almost as great. And remember what we learned from lesson 5: This induced generosity will not only benefit the people you give to, but yourself as well.
And when nature comes to take back my soul or reason will decide to leave it free, I will go away being able to say that I have always loved moral rectitude and noble intentions without ever having limited anyone’s freedom, much less mine.
- This lesson urges us to consider the good of others as a way to serenely accept our own death. In this regard, a 2014 study [condotto su pazienti malati di cancro e in fin di vita](http: // And when nature comes to take back my soul or reason will decide to leave it free, I will leave being able to say that I have always loved moral rectitude and noble intentions without ever limiting anyone’s freedom and so much minus mine) found that the most peaceful patients were “other-centered. They saw in their illness an opportunity to give something to others. Whether it was about encouraging friends, giving life lessons to their grandchildren or participating in clinical trials to help future patients ”. It is said that Seneca himself died with total equanimity, forced to take his own life but doing it calmly and speaking of courage in life and death. The famous painting by Peter Paul Rubens, Death of Senecashows the philosopher dying on his feet, as if to signify the Roman ideal of virtus: valor, courage and character.
However wise, Seneca’s teachings can be difficult to put into practice. They contrast with many of our natural impulses: behaving selfishly, comparing ourselves to others, hoarding us as much as possible, staying alive at any cost.
Seneca understood this tension well and, alongside his rules, offered a secret formula to obtain the benefits deriving from these goals, even if perfectly embodying them was impossible: to try. “It is the act of a generous spirit to proportion one’s efforts not to one’s own strengths, but to those of human nature”, he wrote, “to have lofty goals and to conceive plans too vast to be carried out even by those who are endowed with titanic intelligences “. These goals are not an exercise in futility, but rather in effort and evolution. The only way to achieve true serenity is to try a little every day.
(Translation by Federico Ferrone)
This article was published on the site of the US monthly The Atlantic.