Moral Essays – De Providentia, De Constantia, De Ira, De Clementia by Seneca – one of the greatest thinkers of all time, author of On The Happy Life and other essays, my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/on-happy-life-providence-by-seneca-one.html with hundreds of other reviews - 10 out of 10

 

Moral Essays – De Providentia, De Constantia, De Ira, De Clementia by Seneca – one of the greatest thinkers of all time, author of On The Happy Life and other essays, my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/on-happy-life-providence-by-seneca-one.html with hundreds of other reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

Let us start with De Providentia, and say that the stoics insisted ‘it is not what happens, but what you make of what happens, be happy with what you are given, wish for what you already have’ and other rules along the same lines, critics will say it was easy for Seneca to be so serene, he was perhaps the richest man of ancient Rome

 

Indeed, with that, he was one of the wealthiest of all time, because we have to convert the coins he owned into our money, and besides, there is also the issue of what the others had, which is an exercise in futility, if we are to use the Stoic precepts, and we can also say he knew about having a fortune, he was not confabulating

One wonderful argument in favor of Seneca and the Stoics is that studies in psychology have demonstrated they were right ‘Happiness Activity No 6: Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or surmount hardship or trauma, Happiness Activity No 7: Learning to Forgive –keeping a journal or writing a letter in which you work on letting go of anger and resentment toward one or more individuals who’ve hurt or wronged you’

 

This is from the magical, astounding, life-changing The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html by Sonja Lyubomirsky, after intense, elaborate, years long studies, the conclusion is that we need to be prepared for Providentia, Forgive

Now, if this damn fate brings in an Orange Felon, to be the leader of the free world (elected, so, maybe it is not blind misfortune) what do you call that, I wonder, but I am reminded that the Stoics were so exaggerated may be the word, that they insisted we must thank those who test our stamina, as in Orange Clown, thank you

 

I could not do that, just as I think of an example from the How of Happiness, in the Forgiveness department, wherein she tells us about this murder, in south Africa, the parents of the victim went down there, met with the killer, and then the mother of the dead young woman not only forgave, but made an NGO with the murderer

Something to that effect, I forgot the details, but the magnanimity, probably religiosity of the mother was incredible, a sadistic, vicious thought enters my head, and I say…then she went home, and voted for…Orange Jesus

 

De Constantia is not really my thing, as these lines prove, I am all over the place (maybe the ‘weave’ of the often-mentioned Orange Moron sounds familiar, alas, I do it too, but I am not a candidate for, well, anything…oh, yes, I have fallen in love, a little bit, so I do want to be elected in that sense) but then, this is the challenge

To get into The Zone, be in Flow, obtain Maximum Engagement https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html there are a few conditions, one is skills meet challenges, or else we have to be on the line between burnout and boredom…

 

‘We are what we regularly do. Excellence is not an act, it is a habit’ this argues for Consistency aka Constantia and it is attributed to Aristotle, who has another favorite rule, The Golden Mean, virtue has vice on either side, courage has madness on the left (biker going with maximum speed on ice) and cowardice on the right

Aside from Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html we have the Talmud, though I have seen it associated with Lao Tzu, the idea that ‘you need to mind your thoughts, for they become words, words become acts, acts become habits, and habits form character, character is you

 

De Ira aka About Anger, needless to say, a Stoic would not contemplate that – Seneca was rich, so again, why should he bother – but sometimes, it explodes, one incident is fresh, at the gym, this man I know, calm, cultivated, serene was lifting some weights, and this woman is shouting ‘pula mea’, aka ‘my cock’, though she did not have one

This is as foul as can be, well, probably there is worse, and I will be sexist here (old fashioned, passe, retrograde and all the rest) for a woman to say that, it makes me wince, and get in Thin Slicing, Harding Effect, Blink mood https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html with a clear opinion

 

Yes, if there is harm, offense, and so on, it is not just justified, she is entitled to much more, maybe use a gun (illegal here, but as a concept) but to just scream out that, without any reason, this is disqualifying, just as it is for anybody, he, she, they, it is also true that there is this tendency to ‘show off’, and in the worst possible way

There is the wise metaphor of Buddha, to be angry is like taking some hot coals in your hand, with the intention of throwing it on your enemy, but while you do that, your hand will get burned, and then of course there is Clementia, covered above by Happiness Activity Number 7, Forgiveness, we need this for the other, but also for ourselves, it is also a gesture of kindness, like Anthony Quinn says in Lawrence of Arabia https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/lawrence-of-arabia-written-by-robert.html ‘ I am a river to my people’

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To the Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”