My Reflections on Moral Letters to Seneca - Vol. 1

A quick background: I acquired a book published by HarperCollins. Along with someone, I bought it in a Fully Booked bookstore somewhere in the Mall of Asia. She has her own copy and she recommends me to read well the book as might as well write my reflections on it. The book is well known as Letters from a Stoic.

I hereby section it per letter.

On Discursiveness in Reading

Seneca talks about reading literature in general as well as having mentors through a book. One must choose their books well. It is not good to have more books than what you can read as an individual. It is unwise to jump from book to book. If you are reading a book such as Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, better to finish it thoroughly than reading two or more books at once. Of course, there will be students writing their research papers but it is for another topic. There are also books where you read only a particular chapter of it for reference, like an encyclopedia or Greene's 48 Laws of Power, they are out of this scope.

Being too desultory means jumping to one thing or another. The word itself has it roots in a Latin word for a 'skipper'. Its dictionary meaning tells us that it's a lack of plan or purpose. Jumping from one book to another is a desultoriness. Seneca tells us that it is a sign of a troubled mind. Moving too much will cause a lack of firmness. It's better to do things one at a time. He also tells Lucilius to choose his mentors well, and to not have too much. It's basically what we call 'filtering' to take care of your mind and senses in this digital age. In this digital age where something like YouTube serves a deluge of videos, you better choose your channels carefully. Take care not to be sucked in by the algo. This letter is still relevant to this age.

On True and False Friendship

In this letter, Seneca talks about friendship in general. In the latter half of the letter, he warns Lucilius about oversharing to strangers and being too tacit from his friends. One shall not be both. If one needs to tell a friend something, it must be said. I remember some fools in Facebook sharing their relationship problems with their friends or significant others; it occurs more than what you might think.

"It is equally faulty to trust everyone and to trust no one." he said.

On the Philosopher's Mean

He talks about some philosophers here who do not blend with the environment, those who are trying too hard to be ascetic. They are also the ones who neglect their basic hygiene and being too ostentatious about being nonconforming. It reminds me of the Internet Atheists with their fedora and their neckbeard. It also reminds me of these stereotypical angry 3rd Wave Feminists and their bright hair and piercings all over the place. For fairness, I'll also include these ultra-Trad or Alt-right people who doesn't even workout and being too misogynistic. They share the common traits of being unkempt and ostentatious... also include being irritatingly smug. 

There are also concerns about the ones who does not live in the present, the ones who do think too much ahead, and the ones who ruminates too much. It is quite similar to the troubled mind discussed in On Discursiveness in Reading. This speaks "chill out will ya?".