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Philosophical advice
Practical anger management from Seneca
The Stoics were very worried about anger. Here are eight ways to manage it
I have some experience writing about anger, and I realize that a lot of people get really upset when they read about the Stoic take on this particular emotion. Such people really want to be angry. They think they have a right to anger, and that anger will somehow make the world a better place.
This essay is not for them. Instead, I am going to simply assume that you, dear reader, agree that anger is, as Seneca puts it in his masterpiece on the subject, a kind of temporary madness, and that it’s just not a good idea to willingly go mad, even temporarily.
While Seneca’s On Anger is still arguably the best book ever written on the subject, and it’s chockfull of quotables, it’s actually difficult to put some order in the practical advice the author scatters throughout the three parts of the treatise. But then a few days ago I was re-reading the new translation by Robert Master (part of the University of Chicago complete series on Seneca, highly recommended) and came across a marvelous synopsis that will make your consultation of Seneca quick, easy, and highly effective.
