Seneca Collection

Of a Happy Life is an essay written by Seneca around the year 58 AD. It was intended for his older brother Gallio, to whom Seneca also dedicated his dialogue entitled De Ira (On Anger). It is divided into 28 chapters that present the moral thoughts of Seneca at their most mature. Seneca explains that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reason - reason meant not only using logic, but also understanding the processes of nature.

On Clemency is a two volume (incomplete) hortatory essay written in 55-56 CE by Seneca the Younger, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to the emperor Nero in the first five years of his reign. From Seneca's remarks, it would appear that it was written after Nero had turned 18, which would place it after the murder of his rival Britannicus in 55 AD. It may therefore have been written partly as an apology, perhaps as a means of assuring the Roman nobility that the murder would be the end, not the beginning of bloodshed.

Though many of us might answer "yes" to that question, attracting more joy into our lives is not always easy - life and stress can seem to hinder our well-being, despite our best efforts. What’s worse, studies have shown that pressuring yourself to feel happy and upbeat when you feel down can actually take a toll on us psychologically! So, where do you begin? The solution lies in understanding the innate psychological forces that conspire against us.

Today, we believe that the difference between failure and success, from average to elite, from deadbeat dropout to CEO, is the mentality. It might sound like an easy answer, but a healthy mentality requires constant work, just like happiness and all the good things in life. To help you achieve that wholesome mentality that takes you from good to great, we analyzed three of the greatest philosophers and broke down their observations on human nature, mentality, and happiness.

The first book in the essays of Seneca deals with good and evil. The dialogue is opened by Lucilius complaining with his friend Seneca that adversities and misfortunes can happen to good men too. How can this fit with the goodness connected with the design of providence? Seneca answers according to the Stoic point of view.