Sense of injustice and feelings of being mocked by animate and inanimate objects
A very qualified person can apply for a job and not get it. The person finds out that a less qualified interviewee got the job. That person will feel discouraged, angry and desperate. It is human nature to feel self-actualization. This person was denied that. They may feel disappointed and betrayed by the whole Universe because a less competent person was employed. Seneca says that that we cannot always explain our destiny by referring to our moral worth. Fortune introduces random elements into human destinies. (78) The employer must have had personal reasons for hiring the other person. Those reasons are probably immoral, but Fortune has "moral blindness of a hurricane" (78).
There was a man whose car wouldn't start for the fifth time the same month. He was running late for a meeting and he took a taxi. When he came home, he smashed the car and ruined it completely. It is not reasonable to think that an inanimate object was doing it on purpose. Another man was annoyed by a dog barking in the neighbor's apartment. He threatened to call the police to sort it out. The man felt that his neighbor was making the dog bark to annoy him, but the animal was barking because it was in pain that day. Seneca says that "behind the readiness to anticipate insult lies a fear of deserving ridicule" (84). "We should place a fireguard between the noise outside and an internal sense of deserving punishment" (85) People have reason and it allows them to determine when their wishes are in irrevocable conflict with reality. (88) In mighty natural phenomena lie reminders of all that we are powerless to change of all that we must accept. (88). "That which you cannot reform, it is best to endure" (88).
Shock
A businessman has to be prepared for all that could happen to his company. Every product has its lifespan. If he doesn't invest in research and development, he will fail. He can influence that. However, there are circumstances we cannot influence. The bad economy and recession in the world are unpredictable. Downfalls of stock markets happen. During WW II, for example, many people lost everything, not only their companies. They lost their families too. Seneca teaches us that "nothing ought to be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent forward in advance to meet all the problems and we should consider what can happen" (Seneca 76). No promise has been given you for this night or even hour. Any accident to which a human has been subject, however rare or distant in time, is a possibility we must ready ourselves for. (77)
According to Seneca, philosophy is a discipline that assists human beings in overcoming conflicts between their wishes and reality. In his own life, years of philosophy had prepared him for the catastrophic day when Nero's centurion had struck at the villa door to make him take his own life. (65-68)
Anxiety
There is a story about a married couple trying to conceive a baby. They had tried everything without success. Finally, they decided to go for artificial insemination. It doesn't have to be successful first time. They wish that everything will turn out for the best, but also fear that it may turn out for the worst. According to Seneca you should "assume that what you fear may happen is certainly going to happen" (80-81). The outcome is uncertain for this married couple. They should consider adoption as their last resort. "A man's peace of mind does not depend upon Fortune" (81). Once they accept their worst solution, they will be prepared for everything. Seneca believes that the wise man is self-sufficient and that he will be satisfied with what is left. (81)
Senecan dictionary of frustration
Frustration means that there is a collision of a wish with an unyielding reality. It begins in earliest infancy. Children are taught that if they behave well, they will be rewarded, but if they are bad, they will be punished. When they grow up they find out that it is not true and that morally blind Fortune has something to do with the outcome of people's expectations and efforts to achieve success. People tend to feel rage, self-pittym anxiety, bitterness, self-righteousness and paranoia when they try and fail to do something. They should avoid such destructive feelings. People have to be prepared for everything and even try what it would be like if the worst result happened, so that they can see how much they can bear. If they know what they can expect if the worst happens and they see that it is not so scary, they will be calm waiting for the result. A person has to rise above the world with their soul. Being self-sufficient is the solution for Seneca. The nature is unstable in the whole world and human bodies are too fragile. Earthquakes happen all the time and there is also global warming and the earth had its ways to show us that everything is temporary. After death people's bodies decompose and return as the elements of earth. A person's life is like a flower in the wind and according to Seneca, there is no destiny or karma (if you do good, you shall be rewarded). There is only chance. You should accept wealth if you are able to, but if you become poor, it shouldn't bother you at all because everything in life passes. Seneca thinks that a person should be remembered by his actions, or by what happened to him. What is important is how he reacted. He solution is to remain calm and take all the fortune and misfortune equally because you never know what will come next. Life is full of surprises, because goddess Fortune is blind, but a person prepared for everything can endure anything.
Works cited:
De Botton, Alain.The Consolations of Philosophy. London: Penguin Books, 2001. Print
