Letters from a Stoic Ch. 61: Making Peace with

Seneca

Making Peace with Your Final Exit

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Summary

At some point, you have to stop wanting what you've always wanted. Letter 61 opens with that recognition. In old age, Seneca has ceased to desire what he desired as a boy. Every day is lived as if it might be the last, not anxiously, not as if snatched, but with a kind of completeness. The present letter is written as if death might call him away mid-sentence.

He is ready to depart and says he will enjoy life precisely because he is not anxious about when that departure comes. His practical formula: before becoming old, he tried to live well. Now that he is old, he will try to die well. Dying well means dying gladly. And dying gladly means never doing anything unwillingly.

What is a necessity when you resist it becomes a choice when you desire it. The man who does something under orders is not unhappy; the man who does it against his will is. Set your mind to desire what circumstances demand, above all, to approach your own end without sadness. Life is well enough furnished.

We are simply too greedy with regard to its furnishings. To have lived long enough depends not on years or days, but on the mind.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Living Each Day as a Complete Life

Readiness to die begins in how you live today. Seneca ceases to desire what he wanted as a boy, lives each day as if it might be his last without snatching at it, and says we must make ready for death before we make ready for life.

Treat one ordinary hour this week as if it were enough, and notice what you stop chasing.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: The man who stops wanting

Let us cease to desire what we have been desiring. Each day is lived as if it might be last, not snatched, but complete. The old wants are not defeated. They are retired, which is harder, because they still know his name.

Continue this thoughtWhen the Defence Can No Longer Postpone the Body

Coming Up in Chapter 62

After discussing personal readiness for death, Seneca turns his attention outward to examine how the people we surround ourselves with shape our character and daily choices. He'll explore why most people use busyness as an excuse to avoid real growth..

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Original text

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Chapter 61

Making Peace with Your Final Exit

1.Let us cease to desire that which we have been desiring. I, at least, am doing this: in my old age I have ceased to desire what I desired when a boy. To this single end my days and my nights are passed; this is my task, this the object of my thoughts,—to put an end to my chronic ills. I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a complete life. I do not indeed snatch it up as if it were my last; I do regard it, however, as if it might even be my…

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Making Peace with Your Final Exit

Summary

Why This Matters