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About the book
The Tao of Seneca (volumes 1-3) is a collection of letters written through the words of Seneca to his friend Lucillius. All three volumes
are introductory books to Stoic philosophy. The book contains numerous advice
that can be applied to your life. In addition to this, the book is written in eloquent
language that makes it a pleasant read. Many people in the past and at present
read Seneca’s letters, among them Thomas Jefferson, NFL coaches, Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs and many others. Stoicism is practical operating system for
thriving in high-stress environments, says Tim Ferriss. Actually, I learned
about the book from his blog, where Tim included all three volumes into his
book club section. Having read the 1st volume, I can say that it
makes you to reconsider your thinking process and values, change your attitude
to life. The book contains numerous amount of ideas, for this reason I am
sharing only those ideas that resonated with me in a form of bullet points. By
this way it will be very practical for any person who wants to learn these
ideas and review them from time to time. By the way, you can download all three volumes for free in Tim’s blog where he
shared them. Thank you Mr. Tim Ferriss
for sharing these amazing books with the world!
Here is a sample letter from the book read by Tim Ferriss in his podcast, listen to it and feel the taste of the book.
Book notes and key lessons I have learned
Wisdom
No one is able to borrow
or buy a sound mind.
Submit yourself to
reason, if reason will be your ruler, you will become ruler of many.
Instead of reading many
books, read, reread and digest few master thinkers’ books.
Serving to philosophy
(thinking) is freedom, serving to desires and emotions is a slavery.
Wisdom is always
desiring the same things and always refusing the same things.
The best ideas a
property of all people.
Thinking
We suffer more in our imagination
than in reality.
We have a habit of
imagining, exaggerating and anticipating suffering and pain.
Believe in what you
prefer to believe, and do not harass your soul.
We agree too quickly
with other’s opinions but do not test ideas that cause our fears.
Self-improvement
Strive and be persistent
at improving yourself everyday by studying, training and changing yourself.
Inwardly strive to
excellence and self-improvement, on your exterior conform to society.
Find mentors according
to whom you can improve yourself, you cannot fix crooked without a ruler.
Your greatest obstacle
and trouble is you, where ever you go, you take this burden with yourself. Thus
improve yourself instead of trying to escaping from yourself.
Men complain about their
hardships but not about their laziness and foolishness.
Gratitude
Every day wake up with
joy and gladness, because you are alive.
He who accepts voluntary
poverty (minimalist and voluntary content life) is rich.
Be grateful to be rich,
otherwise you will be poor even if all the wealth of the world belongs to you.
Your wealth does not
matter if it is bad in your own eyes.
Wealth
No man is born rich, as
nature gives to newborn only milk and rags.
To be rich, have what is
necessary and then have what is enough.
It is not the man who
has little, but the man who craves more that is poor. Be content and you will
be rich.
Live according to nature
and you will be rich. Live according to opinion and you will be poor.
He who needs riches
least enjoys it most.
Hunger costs a little,
greed costs a lot.
Friends
Judge a person before
making him your friend, only after that trust him. Many people do the opposite.
To make a friend loyal,
regard him as loyal, and he will become loyal friend to you.
Evaluating a person by
clothes or riches is like evaluating a horse by its saddle, look at person’s
soul and character instead of his possessions.
Be friends with poverty
so fortune cannot catch you off guard.
Wise man is
self-sufficient, though he wants to have friends.
Social status
Every king descends from
a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors.
Fear and hardships
Practice fear setting on
regular basis.
Repeatedly practice voluntary
poverty and the worst case scenarios and ask yourself: “Is this what I am afraid
of?”
While fortune is kind,
fortify yourself against her violence by facing your fears.
Regular experience of
fear will make tough decisions easier, whether it is quitting job, starting
business, changing career or anything else.
Time and life
Nothing is ours except
time.
Largest portion of our
life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing,
and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose.
Certain moments are torn
from us, some are gently removed, and others glide beyond our reach.
The most disgraceful
loss of time is due to carelessness.
You cannot lengthen your
life, but you always can live noble and content life, no matter how long you
will live.
Live everyday as a
separate whole life, so you will live numerous lives, not one life.
Keep resolutions you
have made instead of coming up with new ones
The only chain that is
binding us to life is the love of life.
While
we are postponing, life speeds by.
Death
Young and old should look directly in the face of death; there is
no rule by which death takes people’s lives.
Death does not come suddenly, you die every day. Every day that
has passed is in death’s hand.
You do not know where death is awaiting you, so be ready for it
everywhere.
Ideas on how to read the book
This book is so dense
with ideas that it needs to be consumed by small bites. Instead of swallowing
it, read or listen to one or two letters per day, this is the advice of Tim
Ferriss. Pause in places where you need to think through ideas. Reflect on
where you can apply ideas in your life. Review key ideas on regular basis so you
can instill them into your life.
