14.
A man is as wretched as he has convinced himself that he is.
I hold that we should do away with complaint about past sufferings and with all language like this: “None has ever been worse off than I.
What sufferings, what evils have I endured!
No one has thought that I shall recover.
How often have my family bewailed me, and the physicians given me over!
Men who are placed on the rack are not torn asunder with such agony!” However, even if all this is true, it is over and gone.
What benefit is there in reviewing past sufferings, and in being unhappy, just because once you were unhappy?
Besides, every one adds much to his own ills, and tells lies to himself.
And that which was bitter to bear is pleasant to have borne; it is natural to rejoice at the ending of one’s ills.
Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all,—the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the healing power of the mind
Location: Chapter 78, Section 14
Content:
14.
A man is as wretched as he has convinced himself that he is.
I hold that we should do away with complaint about past sufferings and with all language like this: “None has ever been worse off than I.
What sufferings, what evils have I endured!
No one has thought that I shall recover.
How often have my family bewailed me, and the physicians given me over!
Men who are placed on the rack are not torn asunder with such agony!” However, even if all this is true, it is over and gone.
What benefit is there in reviewing past sufferings, and in being unhappy, just because once you were unhappy?
Besides, every one adds much to his own ills, and tells lies to himself.
And that which was bitter to bear is pleasant to have borne; it is natural to rejoice at the ending of one’s ills.
Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all,—the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.