Seneca to Lucilius: 78, on the healing power of the mind

[image: the thing that generates the mind, from christineiliadisauthor.wordpress.com]

Last week I had the displeasure of having to go to the emergency room (and stay overnight, twice). Not the kind of thing I would ever look forward to, of course, but it certainly did offer me plenty of opportunities to practice philosophy as a way of living.

Today, before writing this, I looked at my notes for upcoming topics to discuss with my readers and I was delighted to find Seneca’s 78th letter to his friend Lucilius. As it happens, the letter is, in part, about how to deal with sickness. How appropriate. (And no, I don’t believe this is anything other than a coincidence. The universe doesn’t send me personalized messages.)

At the beginning of the letter, Seneca tells Lucilius that he had been seriously ill of late. We know that he was affected by some kind of respiratory disease that at time made him feel like he was running out of air and die in suffocation. But Seneca reacted, summoning his will power:

“So I commanded myself to live; for there are times when just continuing to live is a courageous action.” (LXXVIII.2)

I wasn’t anywhere near as ill last week, but Seneca is exactly right. We think of courage — one of the four virtues of Hellenism — as the kind of thing one displays under extreme circumstances. In battle, say, or while risking one’s life to help…