Seneca's Letter 63

Today I will talk about Senaca's advice in letter 63 Lucillius who is grieving for a friend who he has recently lost, through the discussion of the main pillars of stoic philosophy.

Stoic philosophy is the virtue of self-control, apathy, and living in accordance with Nature. The main pillars of Stoic philosophy are explained by Epictetus, in the text "Self-Discipline". Seneca advises Lucillius that he has the right to be sad and mourn the one who die but eventually at one point he is supposed to stop and control himself. Because something is out of our hands, we, as humans cannot control everything, we must let something go. Self-control which is one of the four most important virtues that we need to practice in the Stoic philosophy is what Seneca advises. There are so many things that we cannot control, such as our boss, the weather, or the economy.

However, there is one and foremost important thing which is in our hands is our thoughts and judgments. And this makes the difference, the only thing we can control is how we judge the situations, as Epictetus suggests " What disturbs men's mind is not events but their judgments on an event"(Epictetus, p.6). There is a flow of nature's own, you cannot control the things of nature, like death, in Sena's letter. Nature itself is perfectly rational and well-ordered. We need to align ourselves with nature itself. We should not try or attempt to change, or go against nature because there is nothing we can do about it, this resistance, and fight only will end up in sorrow and pain for us. Instead, we should focus on our judgments and attitudes. Seneca says, "... stop misinterpreting the kindness of fortune." (Seneca's letter, p.1), do not misjudge nature with nature instead control your own thoughts, and perspectives and put yourself together.

"Self Discipline" by Epictetus & "Letter 63" by Seneca