đ Dying Every Day
The Dying Every Day series delivers guided Stoic meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage, and a journaling prompt to consider. These meditations are designed to help you (and me) reflect on what it means to live a âgoodâ life.
Donât Be Ashamed to Need Help
âDonât be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if youâve been wounded and need a comrade to pull you up? So what?â
â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Selected Passage
In this weekâs Dying Every Day meditation, weâre exploring the art of seeking guidance â through a selected passage from Seneca.
Now, if we agree on this point, it is natural that we also agree on the followingânamely, that a happy life depends upon this and this alone: our attainment of perfect reason. âŚ
What is the happy life? It is peace of mind and lasting tranquillity. This will be yours if you possess the greatness of soul and the steadfastness that firmly clings to a sound judgment just reached.
How does a man reach this condition? By gaining a complete view of truth, by maintaining, in all that he does, order, measure, fitness, and a will that is inoffensive, and kindly, that is intent upon reason and never departs therefrom, that commands at the same time love and admiration.
In short, to give you the principle in brief compass, the wise manâs soul ought to be such as would be proper for a god. [âŚ]
+ Adapted from On the Happy Life
Reflection Exercise
How comfortable are you with admitting you need help? Iâm not always comfortable admitting (or realizing) that I need help, but I should. We all doâprobably far more often than we realize.
Consider reflecting on Senecaâs passage on the happy life (e.g., âour attainment of perfect reasonâ). We can all agree that âperfect reasonâ is a mark we fall short of, and thatâs okay. Although the Stoics talked much about wisdom, virtue, reason, etc., we should not assume they thought these were easy to attain (or even possible to achieve perfectly).
There are various ways to seek guidance (or, in other words, âsearch for wisdomâ). We might talk to a friend or mentor to see an issue from another perspective. We could utilize philosophical exercises like journaling or the view from above. In a letter called On Choosing Our Teachers, Seneca says, âWe can get assistance not only from the living but from those of the past.â
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Journaling Prompt
As a journaling prompt, consider reflecting on your thoughts about asking for help. Are you quick to seek guidance? If so, where do you typically turn to understand yourself better, others, and the world around you? If not, why?
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Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. New here? Catch up on previous volumes in the archive!