The Stoic Jew

How Much of Our Suffering is Performative? (Seneca – Letter #63: On Grief for Lost Friends)

December 23, 2021 Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss Season 6 Episode 28
The Stoic Jew
How Much of Our Suffering is Performative? (Seneca – Letter #63: On Grief for Lost Friends)
Show Notes

Synopsis: In today’s (short!) episode we compare Epictetus’s unrealistic and inhuman standards of grieving (or lack thereof) with the tempered and realistic alternative taught by Seneca, as codified by the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah. The explanation Seneca provides for why people grieve excessively raises an interesting question about the psychodynamic forces behind our own experiences of suffering and loss.  

Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content:
- Yet Another Inhuman Facet of Epictetus's Stoicism
- Shooting Yourself With the Second Arrow 

Sources:
- Epictetus, Enchiridion 3
- Seneca, Letter #63
- Rambam: Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilchos Avel 13:11-12
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