With the previous articles in the series “Moral Letters to Lucilius” by Lucius Aeneas Seneca, we focused on important aspects that serve to enrich and upgrade the personality – progress as part of personal development, virtue, the perception of positivism. Today we will pay more attention to another component of our essence as human beings – the restlessness of the human soul and the achievement of a state of rest оr peace.
Our existence, regardless of gender, social status, racial or religious affiliation, is imbued with constant anxiety in one form or another.
Sometimes it transforms into inexplicable fear. Allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by these strong negative emotions, we reach a level of anxiety that can trigger one of the most common “diseases” on a mental level – panic attacks. But why do we worry so much, why is it sometimes difficult for us to reach a state of rest? It is important to realize that we are dependent on our fears, but they are also dependent on us, simply because they are an integral part of our nature.
From an early age, we begin to worry from the moment we gain a greater awareness of the world around us and how it works.
We devote our whole life to the search for our soul nirvana, but it often happens that it achieves it only for a single moment, and then we turn again into the vicious circle of anxiety. We are looking for a way out of it, but we remain blind to the big sign with green letters “EXIT”. This is largely due to the relentless human search for emotional or physical satisfaction. It often happens that we cannot appreciate what we already have and without even enjoying the moment we rush to the new one. But is it worth living in this state of eternal anxiety, of constant searching and wandering?
Seneca says, “I do not like you to change your headquarters and scurry about from one place to another. My reasons are, – first, that such frequent flitting means an unsteady spirit.” Going into the depth of his words, we realize that while we yearn for new, better, faster, fancier objects, places, or people, we could not reach a state of peace of personality. Addressing Lucilius, Seneca says “There is no evil that does not offer inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures; ambition, a purple robe and applause, and the influence which
results from applause, and all that influence can do. Vices tempt you by the rewards which they offer; but in the life of which I speak, you must live without being paid. “
Human life can be characterized as a constant search. We just think that we have discovered one and something new has already appeared that does not give us peace. We try to reach peace, but the very pursuit of peace is tied to a dose of anxiety. Our lives would be far simpler if we could learn to end.
Achieving true peace of mind is possible only when we subdue the feeling of constant dissatisfaction that we initially carry within us. We need to get off the high-speed train of demand for at least a moment and enjoy the aroma of roses. To look around us, to observe, to appreciate every single moment, every single gesture, and everything that we already have the privilege to have achieved and possessed. Because “Even constant care and attention can scarcely bring anyone undertaking to full completion.”
