How to Die

Seneca (4 BC to 65 AD) speaks down the ages with his perennial reflections on the human condition and the inevitability of death. This is the first book to gather his reflections on this theme into one volume, and consists largely of letters. The main sections address preparing yourself, having no fear or regrets, setting yourself free and becoming part of the whole. In some contexts, he refers to death as the departure of the soul from the body, but in others there is a hint of oblivion on either side of birth and death with a sobering reflection on the brevity of life. For Seneca, quality of life is much more important than length, over which we have little say. I learned for the first time that Nero obliged some of his enemies, and eventually Seneca himself, to commit suicide rather than being executed, and there is a noble reflection on the death of Cato in this respect. He encourages us to think of each day as an individual life and warns against prolonging death rather than life. He also identifies the irony of forgetting our mortality while we are busy with other things and are surprised when death comes into view, even though it has always been unavoidable. As Seneca recommends, we would do well to meditate on death in the context of leading a life of real quality.