The peace of mind

The tranquillitate animi (known in Spanish with the title translated in several ways: On the tranquility of the spirit, On the serenity of the soul, On the tranquility of the spirit, etc.) is the seventh of the dialogues of Lucio Anneo Seneca, which deals with ataraxia.

The work is part of a long tradition of philosophical literature on the absence of any pain or embarrassment, from Democritus to the Stoics and the Epicureans to Pyrrho.

It consists of two parts: "In sapientem non cadere injuriam" is the first; the second is "De constantia sapientis".

It was dedicated to Anneo Sereno, prefect of Nero's night guard. Content

If we want to get the peace of mind, Seneca recommends an austere life, oblivious to excessive and useless luxury. It also advises to choose our companies carefully, since if we choose those that are corrupted by the vices, these will be extended to us. The austerity is the main element for the tranquility of the spirit; we must learn to know how to contain ourselves, to curb excess, to temper gluttony, to mitigate anger, to look favorably upon poverty and to revere temperance. Seneca compares the waste of those who have much and do not know how to enjoy it with that person who owns a large library and has not even passed the index.

The ataraxia of the sage springs directly from his greater knowledge. The gnoseological problem is at the base of all possible psychological harmony; the complete security and the autarchic power exclude unpleasant surprises and affections. Only reasoning, caution, foresight can create in man that idyllic atmosphere of peace.

For Seneca, contrary to what the Epicureans contend, ataraxia is not a refined enjoyment of physical and spiritual pleasures, but the total absence of passion, of disturbances that upset the man who is, by definition, rational. >

In this book there is a deep pessimism: the philosopher, still retaining his tranquility of spirit, does not hate humanity for its injustice, vileness, stupidity and corruption. He does not believe that his time is worse than the preceding ones, he does not think it reasonable to complain at any moment of these evils, it is more reasonable to laugh at them. Passions, like pains, are a law of human nature; despising or hating men because they are evil is as if we indignate against them because they are subject to illness; precisely because they are unhappy and sinful, we must love them more.

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