Seneca,

It is good to see that the troubles of the modern Stoic are not new in and of themselves.  Rather, that the same path, with the same loops, snares, and pits has been trodden by many before.  It is in fact all to easy to loose our focus, or even explicitly set it aside, in favor of the banal logistics of life in society.

A friend of mine made a comment, pointing that if our indifferent projects help us fulfill a duty, that is one thing, but if they do not, should they even feature at all?

“But the study of philosophy is not to be postponed until you have leisure; everything else is to be neglected in order that we may attend to philosophy, for no amount of time is long enough for it, even though our lives be prolonged from boyhood to the uttermost bounds of time allotted to man.”

Hmm.

“For health of body is a temporary matter which the physician cannot guarantee, even though he has restored it; nay, he is often roused from his bed to visit the same patient who summoned him before. The mind, however, once healed, is healed for good and all.”

Farewell.

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