Seneca Moral essays
Seneca: It is useful for a man to understand his…
It is useful for a man to understand his disease, and to break its strength before it becomes developed. Let us see what it is that especially irritates us. Some men take offence at insulting words, others at deeds: one wishes his pedigree, another his person, to be treated with respect.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Seneca’s moral essays. The reading beside it is ours.
Anger is easier to handle when you know its favorite doorway. One person cannot stand being interrupted. Another bristles at jokes about money, status, appearance, or competence. The trigger is often not the event itself but the story attached to it: They do not respect me. I am being made small. I am not in control. Learn that story before the moment arrives. For a week, write down what irritated you and what exactly you believed was threatened. Patterns will appear. This is not an excuse for bad behavior from others, nor a demand that you tolerate everything. It is intelligence about your own weak points. Once you can say, “I am especially sensitive to being dismissed,” you have a chance to pause rather than explode. What is examined early has less power to ambush us later.
Related passages
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