BeautifulWild

♥ Wednesday, August 02, 2006 3:19 PM

Seneca on Anger
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Seneca was another philosopher.... he spoke about anger. His very position on this topic, ironically, makes me angry. He thought of anger as the worst possible emotion to feel, and wanted to do everything he could to try and get around it. Personally, after considering Seneca's philosophies and viewpoints on anger, I think that he fails to realise anger's importance in expression and communication, and also the difference between productive anger and sheer fury.
I would not describe myself as an angry person... although I can get angry fairly easy if it is something that really gets to me, or something that I feel strongly about. This anger or annoyance expresses my personality to others and conveys what is on my mind, helping others to understand me more. Anger can be expressed in useful ways; such as motivation to change something for the better, or an outcry for change in a certain situation.
Overall, Seneca concluded that anger results from unexpected events that leave us down-hearted or dissappointed. To solve the problem of anger in everyday life, Seneca suggested that we should sit down at the beginning of everyday and meditate upon all the possible things that could go wrong; a few minutes of sheer pessimism and negativity. This time was thought to prepare one's mind for the worst - therefore eliminating the surprise if anything ever does. Since there is no surprise, there is no anger, and we are free to live calmly, etc.
I was thinking about his views and if this idea would ever work. For it to be successful, one would have to truly believe the negative things that they had predicted for the day. And if one was to truly believe such overly pessimistic predictions, nine days out of ten, they would be pleasantly surprised, because most of the bad things which they had predicited would not realistically happen. If nine days out of ten they are surprised, then it becomes 'the norm' to be surprised, and it would then be, paradoxically, a surprise to not be surprised. Therefore, according to Seneca's own surprise = anger theory, this would result in anger.

[ It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. ]

Essentially, he is advising poeple to engage in something that will ultimately result in the very thing which he is attempting to eradicate.

Another consideration - I guess it also depends on which you value more: joyfulness / optimism or calmness / contentment with the world. I personally would rather be angry than negative. I would rather be annoyed with someone than sit there in a melancholy heap. But that's just me.