Thinking About Seneca (IM 915)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and advisor to the emperor Nero.

His teachings about accepting the hardship as a way of making ourselves strong is what we all need these days. The idea is called antifragility which means to enhance the capacity to thrive in stress, adversity, attacks and volatility.

Like most stoic philosophy, Seneca also had to go through lots of adversity. As a Roman senator, he was ordered to commit suicide by Caligula, only to be saved by severe illness that was supposed to kill him anyway. He survived, only to be exiled by the next emperor, Claudius.

He then returned to Rome as a tutor to the Emperor, Nero, only to again be forced into suicide accusing him as a part of a plot to assassinate Nero. So, he killed himself in 65 AD.

Check out Seneca's great quotes and his Four Important Lessons.