May You Never Grow Up
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Interlude
Please enjoy this interlude while I take a few days to get caught up on projects and prepare for the on-coming holiday season.
Moral Letter 9: On Philosophy and Friendship
This is a long and complicated letter , so I'll do my best to share what I think lies at the heart. Thank you in advance for thinking with me. "Hecato says : 'I can show you a philtre [potion], compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch's incantation: 'If you be loved, love.' " And what is love? Later in this letter, Seneca defines love as "friendship run mad." He goes on: "Now there is great pleasure, not only in maintaining old and established friendships, but also in beginning and acquiring new ones. There is the same difference between winning a new friend and having already won him, as there is between the farmer who sows and the farmer who reaps. The philosopher Attalus used to say: 'It is more pleasant to make than to keep a friend, as it is more pleasant to the artist to paint than to have finished painting.'" What is the purpose of friendship? Is it to collect people for the purpose of support or...
Moral Letter 8: On The Philosopher's Seclusion
Closing the last letter "On Crowds," the good Senator Seneca includes three quotes that provide the perfect segue into the topic of this letter. First, in contrast to "Mob Rules," consider "Democritus [who] says: 'One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man.'" Second, Seneca refers to ol' whats-his-name, "someone or other" who was asked if he cared if his study reached only a few. "I am content with few, content with one, content with none at all." Good ol' Stoic indifference! The final quote "by Epicurus, written to one of the partners of his studies: 'I write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other.'" And so he signs off: "Lay these words to heart, Lucilius, that you may scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many men praise you; but have you any reason for being pleased wi...
Moral Letter 7: On Crowds
This scene from "Gladiator" acts out with near perfection a section of Seneca's letter. Please watch this before moving ahead to my video: Thank you. Click here for the entirety of Seneca's 7th letter .
Moral Letters 4: On Death
Read Seneca's letter online After I made the above-video, I remembered the song Eric Clapton wrote after the death of his four-year-old son, Conor. It's an imaginative piece, a song of a father who not only wants to spend time with his son, but has also reconciled with death: "beyond the door, there's peace, I'm sure."
Moral Letters 2: On Discursiveness In Reading
" . . . restlessness is the sign of a disordered spirit. . . a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company." (Seneca, Letter 2)
Seneca, The Moral Letters (Introduction) and Moral Letter 1: On Saving Time
Of all the screen shots in the world, YouTube had to pick that one. smh. Download all three of volumes of The Moral Letters from Tim's site free of charge . "[S]et yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands. Make yourself believe the truth of my words—that certain moments are torn from us, that some are gently removed, and that others glide beyond our reach. The most disgraceful kind of loss, however, is that due to carelessness. Furthermore, if you will pay close heed to the problem, you will find that the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose." (Seneca, Letters 1) CORRECTIONS Two errors in the video: 1) I incorrectly stated the letter was written in Greek. After reading Epictetus in Greek last month, my mind di...