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How to Maintain Tranquility During the Roman's vast expansion it became a rich and powerful
empire, which allowed the upper echelon of its society to delve deeper into the arts and literary pursuits. In the ancient roman philosophic text called On Tranquility of Mind, written by Seneca, it goes into great detail the path that an individual can take to attain inner peace.
In the text understanding who you are as an individual is the paramount step to achieving the goal of tranquility. Knowing what your own abilities are is the key factor, because if you do not know your own abilities you will eventually overreach them and ultimately fail at your objective. This understanding is hard to achieve because of the innate human characteristic of over estimating what you are capable of. It then goes on to say that a person should find an occupation that fits his or her own skill set. If you are in a field that does not cater to your skills then it will be impossible to achieve tranquility, because you will struggle. Additionally it says not to overwhelm your self with work, it is vital to have time to yourself to relax
Next it goes on to say that having good friends is very important. The people you choose to spend time with should appreciate you and the time that you spend with them. Also it is important to socialize with people who have very few vices. The activities and behaviors of your friends will ultimately become your own, so it is important to be around people who make you better. It states that people with a negative attitude should be avoided at all cost because if they can not find happiness themselves they will only keep you from attaining it.
The text conveys that materialism is mankind's greatest down fall. If you are materialistic no matter how good every thing in your life is you will be unhappy. Having never had money is a far better fate than to have had it and lost it. It also says that it should not be assumed that when a wealthy person takes a financial loss it is less pain full than the same financial loss to a poor person. With all this in mind it says that no matter your station you should be happy with your life, because no matter what you are in life we are all bound in some form or another.
In closing it is amazing that this set of guidelines is still relevant almost two thousand years after it was written. This ultimately shows that no mater how technology changes the world around us people will always faces the same issues in life, regardless if we live in mud huts or a big city high rise.
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