Seneca laboured intensively in the pursuit of wisdom. He devoted four decades of his life to reflecting and writing about philosophy. I would not question his dedication, but I cannot ignore the rather poor results he achieved. The fact that he ended up killing himself does not speak in his favour. Despite Seneca’s large efforts to acquire wisdom, we should not close our eyes to his errors. He gained important insights on Stoicism and made solid recommendations, but where did he go wrong? Why did he not come up a winner in the end? Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius provide the clue for solving this mystery. The purpose of the Letters is to praise self-control and condemn emotional overreactions. Seneca rated Stoic self-denial and calm very high, while condemning aggressiveness, anger and rage. The 47th Letter to Lucilius does not equate rationality and tolerance, but anyway, it encourages readers to befriend people who they might have regarded below their level. The letter refers to servants, in the sense of Ancient Roman law, but the idea applies to all sorts of situations. Seneca is telling us to embrace life’s experience as a whole, and draw spiritual benefits from every situation, friendship or acquaintance. In order to attain this goal, we should judge each person for what they are, not by external appearances such as their clothes or their role in society. I can only endorse Seneca’s openness and equanimity, but I detect a strong prejudice in the 47th Letter against “ambition or the pursuit of success.” Seneca devotes almost every sentence to encouraging us to look downwards, while sternly opposing people who dare to look upwards. Seneca’s characterisation of wisdom shows a deep negative bias. He rightly praises our willingness to share our table with the disadvantaged, but why does he condemn our ambition to achieve success and prosperity? I view Seneca’s bias as extremely dangerous because, if we take it at face value, it becomes demotivating and paralysing. It can prove harmful to look only downwards and talk only about the disadvantaged, instead of improving our own life. Seneca had already put forward this idea in the 10th Letter to Lucilius, where he condemned people who rely primarily on religious prayer (instead of self-discipline) to solve problems. I mean people who pray, asking for help in some private matter. I find it problematic that Seneca condemns all private goals as impure and demands total transparency. He speaks in favour of openness and publicity, but overlooks that silent praying can provide people comfort and strength in times of trouble. Seneca is correct in condemning praying for satisfying low passions, but again, he is solely looking downwards, forgetting the beneficial motivation drawn from looking upwards. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-mistake-in-the-pursuit-of-wisdom/