Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC–65 AD
Here is a quote I liked from the book:
"Seneca like many leading Romans of his day, found that larger moral framework in Stoicism, a Greek school of thought that had been imported to Rome in the preceding century and had begun to flourish there. The Stoics taught their followers to seek an inner Kingdom, the Kingdom of the mind, where adherence to virtue and contemplation of nature could bring happiness even to an abused slave, an impoverished exile, or a prisoner of the rack. Wealth and position were regarded by Stoics as adiaphora, "indifferents" conducting neither to happiness nor to the opposite. Freedom and health were desirable only in that they allowed one to keep one's thoughts and ethical choices in harmony with Lagos, the divine Reason that, in the Stoic view, ruled the cosmos and gave rise to all true happiness. If freedom were destroyed by a tyrant, or health were forever compromised, such that the promptings of Reason could no longer be obeyed, then death might be preferable to life, and suicide or self euthanasia, might be justified."
Here is a quote I liked from the book:
"Seneca like many leading Romans of his day, found that larger moral framework in Stoicism, a Greek school of thought that had been imported to Rome in the preceding century and had begun to flourish there. The Stoics taught their followers to seek an inner Kingdom, the Kingdom of the mind, where adherence to virtue and contemplation of nature could bring happiness even to an abused slave, an impoverished exile, or a prisoner of the rack. Wealth and position were regarded by Stoics as adiaphora, "indifferents" conducting neither to happiness nor to the opposite. Freedom and health were desirable only in that they allowed one to keep one's thoughts and ethical choices in harmony with Lagos, the divine Reason that, in the Stoic view, ruled the cosmos and gave rise to all true happiness. If freedom were destroyed by a tyrant, or health were forever compromised, such that the promptings of Reason could no longer be obeyed, then death might be preferable to life, and suicide or self euthanasia, might be justified."
