Greetings from Kevin to his friend Seneca,

I’m pleased to begin this sort of correspondence.  I generally consider myself to be a firm student of Epictetus and Musonius, with an interest in Marcus as well.  I’m not as familiar with the Stoicism of Seneca as I probably ought to be.  This chance to read your letters, and supply my own replies will be a valuable one, I suspect.

The portion of your letter which most stood out to me is the observation of how the untrained spend the majority of their time:

“…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.“

The focus on the present moment as our sole venue for virtuous intent is a poignant one.  “We were entrusted by nature with the ownership of this single thing,”  The call to mindful attention of that is a worthwhile focus for the one making progress.  Thank you for the reminder.

However, that leaves the debt dis-balanced in your favor, so I hope to level the scales somewhat in future letters.

Farewell.

Part of Michel Daw’s Reading Plan of Seneca’s Letters.