Seneca: Death is a release from and an end of all pains:…

For the Stoics, death is not an endless chamber of new suffering. It is the end of suffering, just as it was before we were born. That idea may not remove grief, and it should not be used to rush anyone through it. But it can challenge the frightening images we create around death. We often pity the dead as if they are still trapped in pain, still missing what we miss, still suffering from the losses of life. Seneca asks us to recognize that death itself contains no further injury. The pain belongs to those left behind, who have to learn a new shape of life. Let this perspective soften panic without pretending loss is easy. When thoughts about death spiral, return to what is actually in your control: how lovingly and awake you live before it.