Letters of Seneca by…Seneca 10 out of 10

 Letters of Seneca by…Seneca

10 out of 10

 

 

We learn more about Armageddon almost every day, in the form of Climate Change, which brings about rising sea levels, with the prospect of island states disappearing or moving on to higher ground, wherever they would be welcome, considering that the number of ‘environmental refugees’ will rise constantly, desertification, with more and more dry lands that receive little or no rain for years – one recent example comes from Madagascar, an article from The Economist explaining that there used to be droughts in the south of the island, but never for years on end – and thus sending its inhabitants into forced exile.

 

The headlines are overwhelming, but there is at least one solution – there would be others, but outside the scope of this note, albeit, come to think of it, the under signed is alas never constrained by the decent limits imposed by politeness and a rebellious audience, there are benefits in not being an influencer and not having people read what you produce, hence no heckling, cancelling and torrents of abuse – and that is offered by Seneca and it is evident in at least some of his Letters, which propose Stoicism as a way of life.

We have to consume less and this is at the heart of Stoicism, although Seneca was not one to suffer in poverty, on the contrary, he was a wealthy man (from one stage in his life onwards anyway) and he has his critics on that count (the Cancel Culture Warriors would…well, cancel him and then the Trump supporters…let us forget about them, listening to the positive psychology precept of Eliminating Negative Thoughts)

 

Seneca writes in his Letters about the opulence on display in his time and he is aghast at the ‘need for silver taps, columns that support nothing’ and a series of other wasteful attitudes of the ‘average citizens’ as he puts it, for if we go to the excess of the rich, then we are overwhelmed and though there is an argument to be made about the industry that caters for the extremely (or is it filthy) rich, in that there are many employed making luxury, huge yachts, pink, rococo palaces for the Russian and other oligarchs, and they would lose their incomes if we eliminate these, still, humanity needs less consumerism…

Or at least not a consumer society which is just abusing resources for no good reason, as in the quoted passage from the Seneca Letters, a banal tap would do the same job as a silver, platinum one (The Orange Fool, self-proclaimed Very Stable Genius, is again a prototype of kitsch, stupid decoration and flamboyant excess, visible in his ugly apartments, decorated with gold that would be better used elsewhere)

 

Until technology will be unveiled to allow people to travel in planes, buy clothes and change them at dizzying speeds and do all they are used to now, without destroying the planet, the solution is to change clothes less frequently, change diets…the Economist has another article this week in which it analyses the eating of insects, which should become more common, while the consumption of beef and other animal meat must diminish, until it is eliminated completely, to avoid the rise in temperatures around the globe, if not for the more pertinent, moral reason that it is primitive and inhuman to kill living beasts…

 

In his Letters, Seneca talks about other issues, it is just that it feels the need to reduce and eventually eliminate waste seems paramount for the very existence of the species and the planet…the great philosopher talks about the Time we also waste, in doing all sorts of things that are undignified, foolish – the example of the eating frenzy practiced in roman (and present) times comes to mind, with vomiting the food just eaten, in order to be able to take in more- the intoxication with alcohol is also stigmatized…

Seneca writes about reading Epicurus (the father of the rival thinking, the Epicurean doctrine) though he is amusing in stating that he is not ready to cross to the other side…Epicurus uses a (somewhat flawed) syllogism and says that people would not trust a secret to a drunk man, but they would trust a good man, ergo a drunkard is not a good man and we must stay away from drink, to the extent we become inebriated anyway…

 

Some of the lines in the letters of Seneca would get him Cancelled today (and if current trends are to continue or get worse, there will be many classics that will be rejected, banished or their paramount magnum opera would be used as examples of how not to think or do things) while quite a few lines seem jovial and funny, even if the advice there, or the opinion is serious, as in the paragraph about travelling.

The problem with enjoying travel, learning something from it is that you take yourself with you on those peregrinations, if only you could leave yourself at home (I think Seneca may say something similar) and indeed, personal experience makes this reader agree with this point, for he has had the chance to visit (some, often very little of) Portugal, Austria, Egypt and in quite a few instances, there was less to enjoy from the outside, given the turmoil inside, especially given the age and too much testosterone, the need for companionship (one must avoid putting in here the word ‘female’ because it could be ‘appropriation’ or some other, perhaps worse flaunting of the New rules, besides, there seems to be a need for clarification, for an article in The Economist mentions the backlash caused by a Science journal which talked about ‘bodies with a vagina’, while the famous congress woman AOC speaks of menstruating people thus it is now a delicate issue and who am I to enter this outré territory)

 

Trying to conclude and return to the most important lesson we can get from Seneca, his philosophy and letters that would be the need for Stoicism, which is not the belief of hermits and ascetic shamans (some of them are quite exotic and wild after all, see the idiot with a cap and horns that has entered the Capitol building on January 6, this year) but one that offers joy, bliss and at the same time would help us save the planet, by being satisfied with less (wish for what you already have is a good Stoic precept) and in the process save trees, animals that are at the present tortured and killed in ghastly, astronomic numbers…