The first of Seneca's Dialogues and Essays was 'On Providence'. He is writing to a friend about why good things happen to bad men, and vice-versa.
I expected the quite Stoic approach to it, but I still found the argument more persuasive and well-conceived that I envsioned. Indeed, that's why I bought the book. The overriding viewpoint is that good events are not something to be desired. Much in the same way as we fatten animals to get more meat from them, a life of leisure is a detriment to us. A life of toil and labor hardens us, and prepares us for further hurdles.
But the writing left me with many questions. For one, Seneca seems to refer to an afterlife. He includes death as a hurdle men can overcome - but if death prepares us to better encounter something else, what else can that be? I am not very familiar with what Seneca's beliefs on the afterlife should be. Second, I wonder what he would say to advantages which can be given to a person, clearly of the positive variety, which do make a person stronger. I immediately think of having read that over the past hundred years or so, adults in developed countries have increased their average height considerably due to better nutrition and a more plentiful and steady food supply. Clearly this is a luxury, having such a well-developed food delivery network at our disposal, but it makes a person stronger and better able to conquer later challenges. I hope this point comes up in a later argument. Finally, Seneca is somewhat vague on how the universe is ordered. Stoics believed that there was a Deity who ordered the world, acting through Nature (much like Intelligent Design theory). In the beginning of Seneca's argument, men seem to be exposed to good or bad fortune as they are out of or in God's favor. This makes it seem like a conscious sorting on God's part, or assigning good and bad fortune to men based on their inherent qualities. Later on, it seems that God only chooses some of the things that happen to us, in order to 'prepare' us for those events that may occur later on, unforeseeable to us. And towards the end, it could be said that Seneca's writing indicates nothing at all is consciously chosen for us, merely that the universe tends to right itself. Perhaps a more cautious rereading later would answer these questions.
The very last part of the essay included a few potent observations on death. Speaking from God's perspective, "Above all I have taken care that no one may detain you against your will; the way out lies open: if you do not wish to fight, you may run away. That is why, out of all the things I judged necessary for you, I have made nothing easier than dying." How prescient! Life truly is like a game, some of us winning and others sitting and doing little. But in the end, losing the game, or rather ending it, is the simplest course of action. And as for abhorring our own death, Seneca advises us to be ashamed of being apprehensive of so short an event. A simple line, but powerful in reflection.
I expected the quite Stoic approach to it, but I still found the argument more persuasive and well-conceived that I envsioned. Indeed, that's why I bought the book. The overriding viewpoint is that good events are not something to be desired. Much in the same way as we fatten animals to get more meat from them, a life of leisure is a detriment to us. A life of toil and labor hardens us, and prepares us for further hurdles.
But the writing left me with many questions. For one, Seneca seems to refer to an afterlife. He includes death as a hurdle men can overcome - but if death prepares us to better encounter something else, what else can that be? I am not very familiar with what Seneca's beliefs on the afterlife should be. Second, I wonder what he would say to advantages which can be given to a person, clearly of the positive variety, which do make a person stronger. I immediately think of having read that over the past hundred years or so, adults in developed countries have increased their average height considerably due to better nutrition and a more plentiful and steady food supply. Clearly this is a luxury, having such a well-developed food delivery network at our disposal, but it makes a person stronger and better able to conquer later challenges. I hope this point comes up in a later argument. Finally, Seneca is somewhat vague on how the universe is ordered. Stoics believed that there was a Deity who ordered the world, acting through Nature (much like Intelligent Design theory). In the beginning of Seneca's argument, men seem to be exposed to good or bad fortune as they are out of or in God's favor. This makes it seem like a conscious sorting on God's part, or assigning good and bad fortune to men based on their inherent qualities. Later on, it seems that God only chooses some of the things that happen to us, in order to 'prepare' us for those events that may occur later on, unforeseeable to us. And towards the end, it could be said that Seneca's writing indicates nothing at all is consciously chosen for us, merely that the universe tends to right itself. Perhaps a more cautious rereading later would answer these questions.
The very last part of the essay included a few potent observations on death. Speaking from God's perspective, "Above all I have taken care that no one may detain you against your will; the way out lies open: if you do not wish to fight, you may run away. That is why, out of all the things I judged necessary for you, I have made nothing easier than dying." How prescient! Life truly is like a game, some of us winning and others sitting and doing little. But in the end, losing the game, or rather ending it, is the simplest course of action. And as for abhorring our own death, Seneca advises us to be ashamed of being apprehensive of so short an event. A simple line, but powerful in reflection.
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