Seneca Essays

LXVIII: On Wisdom and Retirement

http://www.stoics.com/seneca_epistles_book_2.html#%E2%80%98LXVIII1

The first essay I read was "On Wisdom and Retirement," in it Seneca discusses how someone should go about retiring. He said that they should not announce that they will retire because they usually hide away from the world and this leads to other people to gossip about what has happened to the retiree. Seneca also suggests to spend your new acquired free time to do what you wish and not worry about what could have been. This essay is a prime example of Fatalism because Seneca is saying that after you retire you should move on with your life and not dwell on the past events that could have made what you are today different.

LXIII: On Grief for Lost Friends

http://www.stoics.com/seneca_epistles_book_1.html#%E2%80%98LXIII1

This essay is about how Seneca feels that we should grieve the lose of friends, even though he says that it would be ideal if we were not affected by this tragic event. He says that someone who does not grieve is ideal, but we "may be forgiven for bursting into tears." Seneca understands that grief is a necessary emotion and that there is no way to avoid it entirely. He does however say that is important to not allow our grief to flow without some control over it. I think this essay goes along with the idea of Negative Visualization because Seneca tells us to enjoy our friends now because you never know how long they will be here. With this, if we appreciate the good times we have with friends now, when they go, it won't be as difficult because we will have the memories of those better times.