John Vespasian

More than two thousand years have passed since Seneca first defined his methods for overcoming anxiety, worry and other negative emotions. The context has changed, but his examples and recommendations remain valid. I am going to summarise those methods, sometimes quoting Seneca’s precise words and examples, and other times, putting the method in the context of our century. For the sake of clarity, when I present Seneca’s insights, I’m going to use modern terminology. #seneca didn’t employ words such as “stress” or “desensitisation,” but that’s how people call those concepts nowadays. Seneca’s first method is desensitisation. If we jump into a cold-water swimming pool, we will find it highly unpleasant in the winter, but we might get used to it little by little. We could try first with semi-cold water and increase the difficulty slowly until we achieve our goal. In his 53rd Letter to Lucilius, Seneca encourages readers to “become accustomed to difficulties” as a method for increasing their resilience. If we get used little by little to handle anxiety effectively, we will grow able to keep a cool head in difficult situations. Desensitisation may be physical, emotional, financial, etc. It entails becoming accustomed to discomfort, so that we become able to tolerate certain levels of #risk or preoccupation. I would describe desensitisation as a physical, emotional or financial learning curve. The purpose of desensitisation is to draw more joy from life by making ourselves more resilient. If we push our limits, we can do things better and faster due to our increased resilience. Seneca affirms in his 53rd Letter to Lucilius that we should fear wasting our life more than we fear death. Desensitisation can help us make the best of each day. Seneca recommends us to stop thinking about unlikely catastrophes. In his 13th Letter to Lucilius, he remarks that we tend to create lots of unnecessary #suffering for ourselves due to our exaggerated fears. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-methods-for-overcoming-stress/

For the most part, ancient techniques have become obsolete. We no longer use horses and triremes as our principal means of transportation. Neither do we build houses and roads according to the methods employed in Ancient Greece and Rome. However, we can still rely on anti-worry methods conceived by Seneca. Why have they remained effective? Because human nature has not changed since Ancient Rome. The changes in technology have raised our living standards, but many individuals still suffer from worry, preoccupation and other negative emotions. The passage of the centuries has rendered human existence easier, but has not diminished the percentage of the population that is affected by anxiety. #seneca held unorthodox views about worry and anxiety. He regarded those #emotional phenomena as problematic, but didn’t recommend running away from hardship. Instead, he devoted his efforts to severing the connection between hardship and negative emotions. In his 78th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca noted that #hardship can prove helpful if we allow it to #strengthen our mind. Even when we are not to blame for the hardship, it can still prove useful in the future. It can still render us stronger and more resilient. Seneca’s conception of hardship was different from ours. In Ancient Greece and Rome, it meant extreme physical privation or poverty. The concept would also encompass life-and-death threats such as war, shipwreck and severe illness. Training was Seneca’s preferred anti-worry method; he held the view that, if we train ourselves to become tougher, we will not fall prey to despair if bad turns to worse. If we get used to a modest lifestyle, we will not grow depressed if our revenue is sharply reduced. Seneca had followed this practice and attained good results. For instance, after his fiftieth birthday, he adopted the habit of walking barefoot and eating simple, inexpensive food. Those privations, he argued, had rendered his body and mind stronger and more resilient. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/why-senecas-anti-stress-methods-still-work-today/

I have often observed that insouciant people seldom suffer from worry. They go about their business without thinking long of the consequences, accept setbacks philosophically, and keep trudging ahead despite criticism and opposition. #seneca did not regard insouciance as a valid philosophical stance because it reduces humans to a perceptual level. It makes humans prone to accidents of all sorts because they have not taken basic precautions. Dogs and cats do not worry about the future because they lack the intellectual capacity to think long term, but who wants to expose himself to unnecessary risks? Who wants to live like a dog or cat, vulnerable to changes in circumstances? Who wants to be unable to make #meaningful progress? Don’t we all want to improve our lives and build a better future for ourselves? Insouciance does not work for humans even if it’s portrayed as a winning strategy in some fictional stories. In reality, our success depends on our willingness to think and act rationally. In his 13th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca underlined that human rationality goes hand in hand with human morality. If we think, we must pass judgement, and if we pass judgement, we cannot regard evil behaviour as acceptable. #consistency is the key to reducing #fear and anxiety, argued Seneca, in the sense that it enables us to align our actions with the universe. It helps us make decisions according to orderly, #universal principles. The 11th Letter to Lucilius praises natural #ethical reactions. I am referring for instance to blushing. When someone feels that he has done something wrong, there is the tendency to blush in public because he realises that other people are going to pass a negative judgement on him. Seneca considered those physical reactions as genuine and moral, and drew on support from #socrates (470-399 BC) and Cato the Younger (95-46 BC), who had held similar views. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-key-insight-for-overcoming-stress/

We tend to regard time management as a uniquely modern concept, but nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that our ancestors employed more primitive technology did not prevent them from pursuing personal effectiveness. #seneca was not an exception in this respect. After devoting years to philosophical research, he put his ideas down to paper, aiming at producing a large literary output. If we compare Seneca with #marcusaurelius (121-180 AD), we can appreciate a large difference in their literary output. I estimate that Seneca outproduced Marcus Aurelius by a factor of twenty, even if he possessed fewer material resources. Was Seneca a better philosopher than Marcus Aurelius? I do not think so; the difference in literary output arises from higher personal effectiveness, not from higher philosophical accuracy. When it comes to time management, Seneca demonstrated to be ahead of his contemporaries. His life and writings convey the keys to his personal effectiveness. Let us review those keys and see how we can put them into practice nowadays. Seneca devoted his essay “On the Shortness of Life” to the question of personal effectiveness. He acknowledged the limits of the human lifespan, but at the same time, he reassured his readers that the length of the human lifespan is more than sufficient to attain man’s natural purpose. I regard this insight as revolutionary for Seneca’s time. Even nowadays, few individuals are totally free of worry or anxiety. They have not grasped that the human lifespan is long enough to achieve its essential goals, and that we do not need to panic about mistakes, delays and failure. The praise for #calmness and #serenity appears in prior #stoic philosophers such #zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) and Cleanthes (330-230 BC), but Seneca was the first to point out that worry and anxiety are inefficient. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/seneca-on-time-management/

History provides excellent examples of the #philosophy put forward by Arthur #schopenhauer (1788–1860). I can point for instance to the life of #marcusaurelius (121-180 AD) who had favoured living in accordance with nature. Aurelius’ recipe for happiness is understanding the order of the universe and aligning our actions with it; however, when he talked about “the order of the universe,” he was assuming that the world is rational and that humans can grasp its laws. In contrast, Schopenhauer theorised that the universe is not necessarily orderly. His theory of the will (“life force”) points to a blind, eternal force as a driver of all living creatures. Thus, he was expecting the will to exert an irrational influence on the decisions and actions of humans. Despite his different conception of the universe, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius constitutes a good practical example of Schopenhauer’s philosophy of life. Every aspect of Aurelius’ life matches Schopenhauer’s ethics. I’m referring to the #virtues of prudence, self-discipline, steadiness and clear-headiness. Marcus Aurelius expected the universe to be rational and, to a certain extent, comprehensible to our minds. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the inevitability of change, accepting that often we must face external events beyond our control. Schopenhauer placed great emphasis on self-reliance and on all elements that help humans build their self-confidence. The terminology used in Marcus Aurelius’ work “Meditations” does not exactly match Schopenhauer’s, but the meaning is similar. Instead of referring to self-reliance and self-confidence, the writings of Marcus Aurelius mention the “inner citadel” that he is recommending to build inside our soul. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/an-example-of-schopenhauers-philosophy-of-life/

The art of getting things done effectively and inexpensively underlies the philosophy of Arthur #schopenhauer (1788–1860). His theory of the will (“life force”) warns us against the lethal consequences of giving way to our instincts without looking at the cost and at the long-term consequences. How do you protect yourself against the negative influence of the will? Schopenhauer advised parsimony, self-reliance and self-awareness. Those habits can help us counteract the will and make better decisions. I wholeheartedly endorse Schopenhauer’s advice in this respect. His own life offers compelling illustrations about how to practise those habits. In addition to pointing to Schopenhauer’s lifestyle, I advise everybody to read the biography of #benjaminfranklin (1706-1790). You can read Franklin’s autobiography or any biography of his available on the market. The fact that Benjamin Franklin had been born eighty-two years earlier than Schopenhauer doesn’t prevent me from using Franklin as a vivid example of the lifestyle and ethics favoured by Schopenhauer. I’m talking about high personal effectiveness and everything that goes with it. Ask yourself which lifestyle and virtues help increase personal effectiveness? Schopenhauer provided solid answers: self-reliance, risk avoidance, prudence, maintaining a wide margin of safety, #awareness and alertness. You will find all those virtues in Franklin’s approach to #selfimprovement . He made a list of thirteen virtues (temperance, industry, humility, etc.) with the goal of improving his personal effectiveness. Franklin also devised a system for acquiring those virtues. I regard his system as excessively prescriptive, but many people have practised it successfully. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/effectiveness-in-schopenhauers-philosophy-of-life/

Arthur #schopenhauer (1788–1860) had unduly pessimistic, gloomy ideas on love and relationships. The study of his ideas in this respect serves an #educational purpose because it enables us to learn from Schopenhauer’s mistakes. Schopenhauer’s theory of the will (“life force”) underlies his views on love and relationships. This theory predicts that the will is constantly driving all living creatures towards survival, reproduction, and pleasure, without paying attention to the cost and risks involved. From this perspective, Schopenhauer viewed love as driven by the will, which he described as a blind, irrational force. His definition of #love is linked to the instinctual nature of the will. According to Schopenhauer, the expression “love is blind” should be replaced by “the will makes you blind and prompts you to make counterproductive choices.” Emotional #overdrive leads to infatuation, heartbreak, divorce, and harsh reactions. I categorise Schopenhauer’s view of #romantic love as highly sceptical. On most occasions, he argued, lovers are deluded by the will. They fool themselves into believing that love will bring them enduring satisfaction and happiness but endurance is rare. Schopenhauer described love as a turbulent, wild, unbridled desire for the possession of the beloved, often unrelated to the characteristics (personality, mentality, desires) of the beloved. When individuals fall under the spell of the will, they find it difficult to break free and make good decisions. Schopenhauer outlined this idea in his principal work “The world as will and representation,” published in 1818. According to Schopenhauer, love (“intense attraction”) does not have any other goal than the perpetuation of the species. It is totally and completely driven by the will, he argues. He does not consider any aspect other than instincts. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauers-views-on-love-and-relationships/

In terms of chronology, Arthur #schopenhauer (1788–1860) preceded #sigmundfreud (1856–1939) by two generations. The worlds they inhabited were different, but Freud’s psychological #insights rest upon the #philosophy developed by Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer outlined his philosophy in “The world as will and representation,” a book published in 1818. The theory of the will (“life force”) constitutes the backbone of his ideas. According to this theory, the will drives living creatures to ensure their survival and reproduction, and to seek short-term pleasure. Schopenhauer describes the will as blind, eternal, #feral and indefatigable. If you are not alert, the will is going to control your life and prompt you to behave irrationally. Self-awareness is crucial to perceive and counteract the influence of the will. Freud outlined his psychoanalytic theories in books such as “The interpretation of dreams” (1899) and “Psychopathology of everyday life” (1901). He sustained that mental disturbance can often be traced to conflicts between social demands, rationality, and instincts. His definition of instincts resembles Schopenhauer’s description of the will, as a strong and relentless life force. Despite the similarity between Schopenhauer’s theory of the will and Freud’s theory of instincts, there are major differences between their views of the world. The first difference is the #purpose of their work. Freud was a psychiatrist and Schopenhauer a philosopher. Freud aimed at curing mental disturbance, and Schopenhauer at understanding the world and finding a path to happiness. Difference in purpose means difference in scope, viewpoint, and interpretation. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauer-and-freud-similarities-and-differences/

In contrast to the fragmentary prescriptions often given by psychologists, Arthur #schopenhauer (1788-1860) aimed at one comprehensive explanation for the world, including all living creatures. In his work “The world as will and representation” (1818), he argues that the will (“life force”) prompts all living creatures to ensure their own survival and reproduction, seeking short-term #pleasure as well but without considering the costs and risks. According to Schopenhauer, human #motivation is heavily in the sphere of influence of the will. Humans are often prompted by the will to engage in harmful decisions and behaviour. It’s a pressure that every person must face. Nonetheless, there are solid ways to escape or minimise the influence of the will. Schopenhauer presented those strategies in his essays published as “Parerga and Paralipomena” in 1851. Unfortunately, contemporary psychologists have overlooked Schopenhauer’s insights. For instance, #williamjames (1842- 1910) adopted a so-called pragmatic approach to psychology, and deprived it of #philosophical depth. In his work “Principles of Psychology” (1890), James called for studying only observable phenomena and dismissing any general theory that cannot be experimentally confirmed. Such an approach precludes wide-ranging discussions; it narrows the field of vision to little theories about little phenomena. Indeed, James predicated #pragmatism in science. If a theory leads to good results, he argued, then it must be true. However, he failed to differentiate between #correlation and causality. Without general principles, it is not possible to interpret and explain complex phenomena. The fact that event B takes place after event A indicates correlation, but doesn’t mean that A has caused B. Schopenhauer exposed this logical error in his book “On the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient reason” that he had published in 1814. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/opponents-to-schopenhauers-views-on-psychology/

Frankly, I trust proven competent historical figures far more than I trust today’s gurus on self-development. Before adopting any advice, I want to see that it has worked for different people across the centuries. I want to see lots of evidence in favour. #seneca (4 BC – 65 AD) gained significant insights about #timemanagement and his followers have applied those insights with good success. I’m talking about twenty centuries of experience, not about a flash in the pan. That’s why I think that we should pay attention to what Seneca said about time management. I am going to summarise Seneca’s recommendations in this area, in a way that they are formulated in universal, perennial terms. I hope that readers can find them useful to some extent. Seneca warned us repeatedly against being too busy. On the one hand, he meant that we should not pursue contradictory goals. If we try to go north and south at the same time, we are not going to make a lot of progress. On the other hand, Seneca called for an effective, rational employment of resources. For instance, individuals in #ancientrome had to economise on paper (papyrus) because it entailed considerable costs and was not readily available. That’s one of the reasons why Ancient Rome generated a relatively small number of authors. For most of the population, it was unaffordable to purchase papyrus or equivalent materials for writing. Nowadays, paper is cheap, but other #resources remain very expensive. I mean housing and parking spaces in city centres, biological and organic food that is not locally produced, study fees in leading universities, just to name a few examples. For the individual, time remains the most scarce, expensive resource because it cannot be replenished. When our lifespan is over, we cannot extend it at any price. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-advice-on-time-management/