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Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers
How to Die
"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always," and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker and dazzling writer who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.
Seneca believed that life is only a journey toward death and that one must rehearse for death throughout life. Here, he tells us how to practice for death, how to die well, and how to understand the role of a good death in a good life. He stresses the universality of death, its importance as life's final rite of passage, and its ability to liberate us from pain, slavery, or political oppression.
Featuring beautifully rendered new translations, How to Die also includes an enlightening introduction, notes, the original Latin texts, and an epilogue presenting Tacitus's description of Seneca's grim suicide.
Seneca believed that life is only a journey toward death and that one must rehearse for death throughout life. Here, he tells us how to practice for death, how to die well, and how to understand the role of a good death in a good life. He stresses the universality of death, its importance as life's final rite of passage, and its ability to liberate us from pain, slavery, or political oppression.
Featuring beautifully rendered new translations, How to Die also includes an enlightening introduction, notes, the original Latin texts, and an epilogue presenting Tacitus's description of Seneca's grim suicide.
230 pages, Hardcover
First published December 5, 2017
About the author
Seneca
2,314 books3,444 followersLucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger); ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero, who later forced him to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to have him assassinated.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 321 reviews
October 22, 2022
“All of my plays are about people missing the boat, closing down too young, coming to the end of their lives with regret at things not done, as opposed to things done. I find most people spend too much time living as if they’re never going to die.”
― Edward Albee
===========
Laureen Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs, has become an amazing philanthropist. Her father died when she was 3, and she says that growing up knowing that death can happen at a young age shaped her perspective. “What good stuff can I do that would be useful and meaningful? That is a driving force in my life.”
“So I understand the gift of each day—the gift that is life. We are not promised life and then we don’t know how long it is. So I’m able to cherish it and be really clear about what is my highest and best use as long as I’m here.”
She says that she and her husband shared the opinion that having access to great riches changed people—and not for the better. “That was a really important point for him. It wasn’t only that people changed their environment. He felt that they lost their purpose.”
=========
Depending on circumstances, it's not uncommon for an 18 year old, especially a male, to feel invincible. You have your whole life ahead of you and, as the saying goes, the world is your oyster. When I was that age, any such illusions about that were quickly dispersed as a result of tragedy.
I have a brother who is 20 years older than I am, got married young, and had a child right away. The unusual aspect of this is that I ended up having a nephew who was two months older than me. While my brother and his family continued to live in New England, my family moved to the Bay Area when I was 7. My younger brother and I spent time with our two nephews (this included my older brother's second son) in exchanged visits, one there and one here.
In the summer after my older nephew and I graduated from high school, he back East and me in CA, he was killed in an auto accident. My older brother and his wife never got over it.
As with Laureen Powell Jobs, it changed my entire outlook on life. Nothing in this life was guaranteed. Life was fragile. Better make the most of it and don't do anything or fail to do anything you might regret. If you are mistaken, own up.
This is the message of Seneca. In essence, by recognizing the reality of death it can help you live a better life. It's a mistake to run scared. And it's also a mistake to squander your life as if you are never going to die. Meanwhile, live every day as if it's precious and don't be risk-averse.
-----
Regrets of the dying....
https://bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-...
I have to wonder if one day one of the regrets by some might be: "spent too much time on social media and my phone?"
==========
Sobering note: I stumbled on to an interview with Christopher Hitchens on C-Span in 2009. Hitchens was 60 at the time. The interviewer asked Hitchens what kind of father he had been and he said "indifferent" But he expressed hopes that now that his kids were older he would try to do better. A year later, Hitchens would be diagnosed with cancer. And the year after that, he would die. Although at the outset of the interview, he said he had not expected to live as long as he had (with a likely nod toward his bad health habits).
(BTW, there is zero evidence that Hitchens converted to Christianity on his death bed. His attending physician, the devout Christian and head of the NIH, Francis Collins, testified there was no conversion.)
― Edward Albee
===========
Laureen Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs, has become an amazing philanthropist. Her father died when she was 3, and she says that growing up knowing that death can happen at a young age shaped her perspective. “What good stuff can I do that would be useful and meaningful? That is a driving force in my life.”
“So I understand the gift of each day—the gift that is life. We are not promised life and then we don’t know how long it is. So I’m able to cherish it and be really clear about what is my highest and best use as long as I’m here.”
She says that she and her husband shared the opinion that having access to great riches changed people—and not for the better. “That was a really important point for him. It wasn’t only that people changed their environment. He felt that they lost their purpose.”
=========
Depending on circumstances, it's not uncommon for an 18 year old, especially a male, to feel invincible. You have your whole life ahead of you and, as the saying goes, the world is your oyster. When I was that age, any such illusions about that were quickly dispersed as a result of tragedy.
I have a brother who is 20 years older than I am, got married young, and had a child right away. The unusual aspect of this is that I ended up having a nephew who was two months older than me. While my brother and his family continued to live in New England, my family moved to the Bay Area when I was 7. My younger brother and I spent time with our two nephews (this included my older brother's second son) in exchanged visits, one there and one here.
In the summer after my older nephew and I graduated from high school, he back East and me in CA, he was killed in an auto accident. My older brother and his wife never got over it.
As with Laureen Powell Jobs, it changed my entire outlook on life. Nothing in this life was guaranteed. Life was fragile. Better make the most of it and don't do anything or fail to do anything you might regret. If you are mistaken, own up.
This is the message of Seneca. In essence, by recognizing the reality of death it can help you live a better life. It's a mistake to run scared. And it's also a mistake to squander your life as if you are never going to die. Meanwhile, live every day as if it's precious and don't be risk-averse.
-----
Regrets of the dying....
https://bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-...
I have to wonder if one day one of the regrets by some might be: "spent too much time on social media and my phone?"
==========
Sobering note: I stumbled on to an interview with Christopher Hitchens on C-Span in 2009. Hitchens was 60 at the time. The interviewer asked Hitchens what kind of father he had been and he said "indifferent" But he expressed hopes that now that his kids were older he would try to do better. A year later, Hitchens would be diagnosed with cancer. And the year after that, he would die. Although at the outset of the interview, he said he had not expected to live as long as he had (with a likely nod toward his bad health habits).
(BTW, there is zero evidence that Hitchens converted to Christianity on his death bed. His attending physician, the devout Christian and head of the NIH, Francis Collins, testified there was no conversion.)
April 19, 2019
I did not expect this to make me feel less suicidal. I thought it would actively trigger me. I thought it would give me ideas. But Seneca was kind of a bastard. Life only has meaning because we die. Because life is so short. Otherwise, why bother. Make the most out of it because your life is so ridiculously short.
It's almost funny. But I was out at ease. He was right, in a way, that someone who yearns to die rather than actively seeking it out isn't claiming death as their own. Perhaps it might cause some to act on suicidal thoughts. since I tend to be impulsive, I've got to work to stay level. Because I won't otherwise plan out a suicide. I'll just ruminate until I'm so overwhelmed that I attempt.
But if I'm level, if in conscious, if I'm aware, I can stop myself. And I should be conscious of my true intent. Do I want to die?
According to Seneca, no. And that's helped me clear my head. I needed to hear this. I now need to make this my every day philosophy.
It's almost funny. But I was out at ease. He was right, in a way, that someone who yearns to die rather than actively seeking it out isn't claiming death as their own. Perhaps it might cause some to act on suicidal thoughts. since I tend to be impulsive, I've got to work to stay level. Because I won't otherwise plan out a suicide. I'll just ruminate until I'm so overwhelmed that I attempt.
But if I'm level, if in conscious, if I'm aware, I can stop myself. And I should be conscious of my true intent. Do I want to die?
According to Seneca, no. And that's helped me clear my head. I needed to hear this. I now need to make this my every day philosophy.
June 26, 2019
From a New Yorker article on the fiftieth anniversary of Slaughterhouse-Five, on how we face war and death:
How to Die is a collection of Seneca's writings, sampled from a wide range of his primary texts. For good measure they included the whole thing in its original Latin at the end - so it's really just 120 or so pages long.
Reading the introduction to the text, I felt a rising concern for the young translator. The word "suicide" appears at least once a page, and to say it's a fixation would seem an understatement. Then I double-checked the book summary and found, yup, this is a primer specifically on death from a Stoic point of view. Tonally, the translation is bright and colloquial. Textually, the content is morbid.
3.5 stars out of 5. Ol' Seneca lays down some proverbs and a quality research team gives good background for context. A fine collection of nimbly translated, thematically related material that spares you the trouble of digging through all his letters yourself. But if this were your first exposure to Stoicism, you might think it's excessively macabre.
So it goes.
I had not remembered, until I reread “Slaughterhouse-Five,” that that famous phrase “So it goes” is used only and always as a comment on death. Sometimes a phrase from a novel or a play or a film can catch the imagination so powerfully—even when misquoted—that it lifts off from the page and acquires an independent life of its own. “Come up and see me sometime” and “Play it again, Sam” are misquotations of this type. Something of this sort has also happened to the phrase “So it goes.” The trouble is that when this kind of liftoff happens to a phrase its original context is lost. I suspect that many people who have not read Vonnegut are familiar with the phrase, but they, and also, I suspect, many people who have read Vonnegut, think of it as a kind of resigned commentary on life. Life rarely turns out in the way the living hope for, and “So it goes” has become one of the ways in which we verbally shrug our shoulders and accept what life gives us. But that is not its purpose in “Slaughterhouse-Five.” “So it goes” is not a way of accepting life but, rather, of facing death. It occurs in the text almost every single time someone dies, and only when death is evoked.
How to Die is a collection of Seneca's writings, sampled from a wide range of his primary texts. For good measure they included the whole thing in its original Latin at the end - so it's really just 120 or so pages long.
Reading the introduction to the text, I felt a rising concern for the young translator. The word "suicide" appears at least once a page, and to say it's a fixation would seem an understatement. Then I double-checked the book summary and found, yup, this is a primer specifically on death from a Stoic point of view. Tonally, the translation is bright and colloquial. Textually, the content is morbid.
3.5 stars out of 5. Ol' Seneca lays down some proverbs and a quality research team gives good background for context. A fine collection of nimbly translated, thematically related material that spares you the trouble of digging through all his letters yourself. But if this were your first exposure to Stoicism, you might think it's excessively macabre.
June 6, 2019
Although this book contained some meaningful insights about the way we contemplate death, the narrator's chipper voice was completely inappropriate to the subject at hand and often made Seneca's musings seem somewhat pretentious and elitist. Apart from some outdated ethic views about death and suicide, it has some interesting thoughts about the so-called symmetry argument which compares the state of non-existence prior to our births with the state of non-existence after our deaths. Since the former is not something we worry about, so too should the latter “count to us as nothing” - an argument against which many have argued quite convincingly.
January 23, 2023
How to Die is a collection of Seneca's writings on the topic of death, particularly dear to the Stoics. The essays grouped here make for a powerful series of meditations on what Seneca referred to as the ultimate test of our character, the great equalizer, the thing we are most afraid of though there really is no reason to. Part of the ongoing Princeton Press's series, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, it's one of the best entries I've read so far (which is high praise, because I'm enjoying the whole series). Some modern readers may think the very idea to be profoundly misguided. Isn't it morbid to keep thinking about our own demise? Isn't it going to come too soon anyway? But that betrays exactly the sort of thoughtless and unwise habit of thinking that Princeton's collection are attempting to cure us from. Keep this book handy, return to it often, and enjoy your life precisely because you are aware of its brevity and of your mortality.
May 9, 2020
Collection of Seneca`s moral epistles and letters of consolation to those affected by death or those fearful of death. Seneca teaches us not to fear death; but to study it, prepare for it, and in the end, accept it. He justifies rational suicide and thinks of it highly as an escape from political oppression, slavery, or pain. He, however, does note that sometimes the liberation by suicide is not morally right if we have an obligation towards family or friends.
To die well is as important as to live well, he says. Fear of death is redundant as it diminishes nobility and integrity of life. To fear death is to fear life. Thus, we are in no one's power if death is in our power. A man is a fool if he weeps for he didn`t live for the past 1000 years. He is, therefore, also a fool if he cries because he won`t live for 1000 years to come. You won`t exist, just like you didn't exist. Furthermore, one should strip oneself of any hope for it fills one`s heart with greediness and fear.
The book includes some of the most virtuous examples of real suicides as means of escaping one`s tormented life. Seneca himself leaves a testament of his life by the action of suicide, showing his friends and others the courage to die on his own terms in the face of execution. As he repeats rather often, death is a path to freedom.
To die well is as important as to live well, he says. Fear of death is redundant as it diminishes nobility and integrity of life. To fear death is to fear life. Thus, we are in no one's power if death is in our power. A man is a fool if he weeps for he didn`t live for the past 1000 years. He is, therefore, also a fool if he cries because he won`t live for 1000 years to come. You won`t exist, just like you didn't exist. Furthermore, one should strip oneself of any hope for it fills one`s heart with greediness and fear.
The book includes some of the most virtuous examples of real suicides as means of escaping one`s tormented life. Seneca himself leaves a testament of his life by the action of suicide, showing his friends and others the courage to die on his own terms in the face of execution. As he repeats rather often, death is a path to freedom.
June 8, 2022
While Seneca's writing has serious implications for suicide and euthanasia that many might disagree with, I really appreciate his views on taking a lifetime to die.
⭐⭐⭐ ¾
⭐⭐⭐ ¾
November 25, 2020
The problem I have with Seneca’s brand of stoicism is twofold:
1) He not only excuses the act of suicide, but makes a concerted effort to advocate for it in numerous circumstances.
2) He glorifies death to the extent that it could be reasonably argued that he deems it preferable to life.
For Seneca, death is thought of in terms of absolute finality of the physical and non-physical self; he makes no mention of consciousness surviving the body and he doesn’t entertain notions of a spiritual afterlife. Rather, he illustrates human death as just another infinitesimally small part of the larger cosmic system of endless renewal: just as a seed sprouts, blossoms, decays, then returns to the organic matter from which it came.
Whilst I can appreciate the intellectual acuity that went into his arguments, I cannot abide with his view that he deems it cowardly to want to preserve life if one can in the face of suffering. He seems to discount the significance of obligation to others; that it might in many circumstances be incumbent to hang on to life where one can for the sake of others more than for yourself.
1) He not only excuses the act of suicide, but makes a concerted effort to advocate for it in numerous circumstances.
2) He glorifies death to the extent that it could be reasonably argued that he deems it preferable to life.
For Seneca, death is thought of in terms of absolute finality of the physical and non-physical self; he makes no mention of consciousness surviving the body and he doesn’t entertain notions of a spiritual afterlife. Rather, he illustrates human death as just another infinitesimally small part of the larger cosmic system of endless renewal: just as a seed sprouts, blossoms, decays, then returns to the organic matter from which it came.
Whilst I can appreciate the intellectual acuity that went into his arguments, I cannot abide with his view that he deems it cowardly to want to preserve life if one can in the face of suffering. He seems to discount the significance of obligation to others; that it might in many circumstances be incumbent to hang on to life where one can for the sake of others more than for yourself.
March 26, 2018
Seneca's How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life is a sobering book about not being afraid of death, even of hurrying it on if life has nothing else to offer you. Seneca, indeed, was requested by the Emperor Nero to commit suicide. The epilogue of this book is the Roman historian Tacitus's description of the double suicide of Seneca and his wife Polina.
July 17, 2020
A very heavy subject, written about without excessive emotion as only a master of stoicism could.
Not for the faint of heart or close-minded.
Not for the faint of heart or close-minded.
March 13, 2018
"How to Die," compiled from various writings of the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca by the excellent James Romm, assembles Seneca’s thoughts on death. Seneca died during the reign of the emperor Nero, in A.D. 65, having been “encouraged” by him to commit suicide. The reason for the compiling and publication of this book, presumably, is to educate moderns about how to die. It also offers an interesting view into the philosophy of the late pagan Classical world, already dying itself, although Seneca didn’t know it. This book can doubtless educate moderns, but for us, different than our predecessors, it is either valuable or dangerous, or both, depending on who is reading it and with what aim.
Stoicism is one of those philosophies, like Buddhism or Taoism, that shallow moderns like to mention favorably in passing, usually with an implicit criticism of backward religions like Christianity. Often such mentions are combined with a reference to the "Meditations" of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (died A.D. 180), who had a brief efflorescence in the public consciousness a few years ago when he was lucky enough to be depicted in the blockbuster movie "Gladiator." As with all philosophical systems before the modern era, a great many very smart people gave much thought to the philosophy, and while I know little about it, I know that Stoic thought is complex and far-reaching, and had substantial interaction with early Christian thinkers (including St. Paul, in Acts 17). This book, to be sure, does not purport to explain Stoicism, only the thought of one philosopher on one topic, over several decades of his life.
Seneca, though he lived to nearly seventy years old, had multiple reasons to focus on death other than mere philosophy. He suffered from recurrent aggressive asthma, which regularly threatened to suffocate him, and he also appears to have suffered from tuberculosis. Having his breath potentially snuffed out at any time doubtless kept death near the front of his mind. Moreover, he lived and was politically active during the reigns of Caligula and Nero, where the life of any prominent man was not secure, and he was far from the only man forced to commit suicide in that era. Thus, it is not surprising that he recurred to the topic over the decades.
His instructions are really of two types. Both sets of instructions fall under Seneca’s epigraph for the book, well-chosen by Romm, “He lives badly who does not know how to die well.” The first explains how one should think about dying. This is valuable, to some, at least. Although the modern tendency is to ignore death, and perhaps that’s always been the tendency of humanity, some choose to want to focus their minds, and Seneca offers a reasonable set of thoughts to them. The second type of instruction explains how one should actually go about dying, physically. Seneca is indifferent to the method, but for him the key is that, wherever possible, each person should choose for himself when and how to die. Dying well, then, to Seneca, consisted of the right mental frame with which to approach death, but also the choice when to die, which strongly indicated suicide for any person not granted a quick and unexpected death. This creates a problem for us moderns, because, taken from its pagan, elite context, and applied to the mass of individuals in today’s society, especially as a rationale for structuring society’s laws, this second instruction has baleful effects.
As to how one should think about dying, Romm pulls Seneca’s own thoughts from his various writings. He groups Seneca’s thoughts into five subsets: “Prepare Yourself”; “Have No Fear”; “Have No Regrets”; “Set Yourself Free”; and “Become a Part of the Whole.” While there is some variability in the message, and even contradictions (though none fatal—ba dum!), he offers mostly repetitions of a few basic philosophical points. One is that death is no different than what we had experienced before birth—i.e., nothing, and if we did not fear that, why should we fear death? His argument isn’t very convincing, because it ignores two basic points, both springing from that life gives us the ability to consider the future. The facile one was expressed by Isaac Asimov: “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” The deeper point was expressed by Hamlet: “To sleep, perchance to dream—aye, there’s the rub.” Seneca mostly says death is merely nothingness; sometimes he says we are dissolved in the universe and thereby live on; a few times he seems to endorse belief in a desirable, Christian-type afterlife (i.e., not in the traditional Hades—by this point, Greek and Roman philosophers had abandoned that framework). But I think few of those reading his writings or receiving his letters would have been much comforted by his core idea, that we are going back into the dark from whence we came. More compelling, by far, is the story the Venerable Bede tells of how Edwin, king of Northumbria, was convinced to convert from paganism by a counsellor who analogized the life of man to a sparrow, flying from cold darkness to cold darkness, but passing for a moment through the light, warmth and merriment of the mead hall, “Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing, therefore, this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.” Seneca, perhaps aware that his argument isn’t very compelling, tries to buttress it with even weaker arguments, like “If death holds any torment, then that torment must also have existed before we came forth into the light.” Maybe, but not necessarily, is the obvious answer, and so with his other arguments as well.
A second point Seneca makes is that, in essence, fear is degrading, so stop it. This seems somewhat in opposition to his first point—if fear is supposed to disappear because there is no reason to fear, adding on that it’s degrading seems unnecessary, though certainly true in the abstract. My guess is that this is part of a larger Stoic framework, but I don’t know enough to be sure. A third point is that the length of life doesn’t matter, a point Seneca addresses at length in a letter to a grieving mother, with his argument being, basically, that we’re all negligible anyway, so what’s wrong with being a little more negligible? I’m pretty sure a grieving mother didn’t think much of this advice, unless she persuaded himself that Seneca knew better than her, a common failing of intelligent people in their relationship with self-proclaimed philosophers, though the ages. A variation on this argument, more compelling, that Seneca also makes is that mere life extension in the old is pointless in and of itself. (Seneca does suggest, though, that sticking around for others, such as his beloved and much younger wife, is a decent reason not to kill oneself.) As long as a person lives “until attaining wisdom,” he should be content (though this contradicts Seneca’s other point somewhat, that we’re all negligible). And Seneca’s fourth point is, in essence, that death is coming for you and for me, and we can’t avoid it, so we might as well not get too worked up about it. (My guess is this latter point, about not getting too worked up, probably encapsulates the Cliff’s Notes version of Stoicism as a whole.) That said, suicide is logical and often desirable; it can avoid a more painful death; or it will “set you free,” from unpleasantness like slavery or torture, or simply from a decline, especially one where you can no longer take action because you are too weak.
Many people reading this book today would find resonance in Seneca’s strong endorsement of each person determining for himself how and when he should die. This is, of course, a very pagan attitude, and the antithesis of the morals of the West since Christianity began to dictate private and public morality, thereby hugely improving the moral tone of society and eliminating as an acceptable option formerly unexceptional things like infanticide, abortion and sex slavery. While the Christian (and Jewish) belief in the inherent, God-given and God-mandated sanctity of life, with the tagline “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,” is internally coherent, so is the pagan approach to suicide, and Seneca lays it out well. The people with whom the pagan approach resonates, today, though, are not Stoics, much less Cato the Younger (who committed suicide by stabbing himself in the gut, and then tearing out his intestines when his friends sewed him up). Instead, they are the fashionable and not-very-deep thinkers who push “assisted suicide,” “legal euthanasia,” or whatever buzzword it’s going by nowadays.
This is the natural consequence of the devaluation of human life that has taken place over the past fifty years, with baneful instances in many areas (not to mention the various horrors of earlier in the twentieth century). On the surface, though, suicide has more appeal and fewer obvious drawbacks than, say, demands for legalized abortion or, the same thing, infanticide. After all, if you insist on killing yourself, there is no argument you’re killing someone else (unless you pick a poor method), and if you take care of your obligations, no good argument that you are directly harming others. Stripped of the Christian framework, the ability to kill oneself in the face of a terminal illness or other perceived overwhelming need seems entirely logical, entirely in keeping with the advice of Seneca, and both brave and not degrading. And since stripping the Christian framework is what those who rule in the West are today all about, criminalizing suicide, or assisting in a suicide, seems illogical.
But, as with most age-old moral rules that have been demolished in our time of glory, there is more of practical value in moral rules than meets the eye. It used to be a commonplace, which seems to have been forgotten, that suicide, and its assistance, is not criminalized to prevent suicide (though it does express a salutary moral opinion), but rather to prevent pressure from being brought to bear on those for whom their suicide would be convenient for others. This problem, though always known, is infinitely worse in the modern world, when most old people live much longer, and have more money tied up in themselves, and moreover often are in a condition, physical or psychological, where they are susceptible to arguments that their “quality of life” is low. Compounded with the ever-increasing cost of medical care, and the government’s tendency to dictate choices using cost-benefit analysis, the inevitable consequence of legalizing suicide is that suicide will be encouraged and will expand inexorably as expectation, then demand, from the old and sick, and be imposed involuntarily even on children. These are not guesses; all these things that can be seen in Europe already, though as with all such horrors, their existence is kept largely out of sight by a complicit press. Industrialized coerced suicide of the weak is a far cry from educated Roman elites committing suicide; it has much more in common with the cries of a little boy doused with Zyklon B, “Mama, it’s so dark! But Mama, I’ve been good! I’ve been good!”
And that’s not to mention that there is every argument to be made that when Christianity loses its power, to which legalizing suicide will contribute (part of why it is pushed by the enemies of Christianity), so will all the moral commands of Christianity, of which we have forgotten their origin. That said, more thinking about death does have a lot to recommend it. Modern people have not forgotten death, but they do their best never to think about it. We all know people who won’t even get life insurance to protect their families, because it makes them think about their own deaths. And when the time comes to die, most end up in a hospital having nasty things done to them so they can live a few more hours, or a few more days. Seneca would say that this is no way to live, and he would be right. Delete the endorsement of suicide and the bleak metaphysics, and Seneca would agree that when it’s time to go, it’s time to go, and whatever your metaphysics, to see the other side. Ignoring it, or painfully and slowly eroding your body with needles and tonics, isn’t going to change that. And it is, indeed, a disgrace to spend your life in fear.
Thus, those tech types obsessed with life extension, whether by improved medical science or by supposedly imminent radical changes such as the Singularity, degrade themselves, for they are merely masking their overwhelming fear by promising themselves eternal life without the need for death. Oh, they cover it up with fine words about “curing death” and the supposed moral imperative to extend our lives, but there is no such imperative, and death will never be cured. Once you accept that, and if you can think accurately and cogently about suicide, this book is worth reading. And you can mention it instead of the "Meditations" at cocktail parties, thus putting yourself ahead of other pseudo-Stoics, in the estimation of your fellow party-goers.
April 18, 2019
It was not that bad. Some of Seneca s words didn't make sense to me at all. Agreed that life isn't everything about this human existence, but so isn't death. Some passages were okay, and it comes close to some sufi teachings, but still falls nearest to the extremes.
Rehearsing death and practising it is a good start, but not to be haunted by the idea, and admire suicide. Towards the end of the book, there was a sort of "ressaisissement" of the author, that taking one's life regardless of the other spirits that depend on him is a haggard way out of life. I couldn't agree more, and thus it untied to a small extent the estime it holds death in.
A recurrent theme at the beginning of the book was to die before death and be prepared for it, such as those who learnt how to die have unlearned how to be enslaved. Just a Greek version of the Japanese hara-kiri...
The brightest it can come close to as a doctrine is to Al Fanaa' الفناء.
Rehearsing death and practising it is a good start, but not to be haunted by the idea, and admire suicide. Towards the end of the book, there was a sort of "ressaisissement" of the author, that taking one's life regardless of the other spirits that depend on him is a haggard way out of life. I couldn't agree more, and thus it untied to a small extent the estime it holds death in.
A recurrent theme at the beginning of the book was to die before death and be prepared for it, such as those who learnt how to die have unlearned how to be enslaved. Just a Greek version of the Japanese hara-kiri...
The brightest it can come close to as a doctrine is to Al Fanaa' الفناء.
May 25, 2024
Since Seneca is a Stoic philosopher, you won’t be surprised that this is not an especially uplifting read. I’m curious how great thinkers (Christian and secular) consider death. There is wisdom to be found in places like Seneca’s brilliant mind and observations. The universality of preparing for death - that life, in great part, is meaningful only as we use it to prepare for death - that amazes me. Clearly, God has put eternity into the hearts of all (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
April 26, 2021
I think some of his thoughts may be triggering for people who particularly are experiencing suicidal thoughts or depressive episode, because few statements "justify" the act of suicide.
So, I suggest everyone to read with caution.
p.s. I read the translated book, so I quoted the words in Indonesian.
Personally, I agree with the general idea of this book. That death is the only certain thing in this world to happen to any of us. The uncertainty regarding death lies on when and how we die. It is a mystery, unless we plan the execution ourselves. But if we plan the death ourselves, then it'd be suicide. As for me, suicide is not even a choice if someone wants to end the misery of their life regardless the reasons behind it.
So, I suggest everyone to read with caution.
p.s. I read the translated book, so I quoted the words in Indonesian.
Personally, I agree with the general idea of this book. That death is the only certain thing in this world to happen to any of us. The uncertainty regarding death lies on when and how we die. It is a mystery, unless we plan the execution ourselves. But if we plan the death ourselves, then it'd be suicide. As for me, suicide is not even a choice if someone wants to end the misery of their life regardless the reasons behind it.
April 23, 2023
I’ve always wanted to read primary philosophy texts but they always seemed so daunting. This curated collection of letters from Seneca (and subsequent commentary) about death scratches that itch.
some cool ideas:
- Those who learned to die have unlearned how to be slaves. That's true freedom because the one true chain we all have is the love of life / fear of death.
- the fear of death makes dying more difficult. that fear also diminishes the "nobility and moral integrity" of all life.
- frequently contemplate the brevity of life and it's uncertainty. Whatever you undertake, cast your eyes on death.
- The most complete life is to live until attaining wisdom: to return to the cosmos with a better life than the one we received.
fascinating how two thousand year old thoughts are still relevant. but i guess that’s just the nature of ideas relating to the unanswerable questions and mysteries of life.
some cool ideas:
- Those who learned to die have unlearned how to be slaves. That's true freedom because the one true chain we all have is the love of life / fear of death.
- the fear of death makes dying more difficult. that fear also diminishes the "nobility and moral integrity" of all life.
- frequently contemplate the brevity of life and it's uncertainty. Whatever you undertake, cast your eyes on death.
- The most complete life is to live until attaining wisdom: to return to the cosmos with a better life than the one we received.
fascinating how two thousand year old thoughts are still relevant. but i guess that’s just the nature of ideas relating to the unanswerable questions and mysteries of life.
June 3, 2018
It taught me to be calm and to accept things as they are. I really did enjoy reading this, it was like a balm to my existential wound and I found it really helpful in soothing a loud troubled voice in my head.
August 9, 2020
Definitely a re-reader.
And clear proof that what we call today
a middle-age crysis was actually a noble pursuit
of philosophy in ancient days.
Just kidding. Philosophy is actually strange, but happy marriage of
middle-age crysis and childish fascination with jamais-vu of the world.
And clear proof that what we call today
a middle-age crysis was actually a noble pursuit
of philosophy in ancient days.
Just kidding. Philosophy is actually strange, but happy marriage of
middle-age crysis and childish fascination with jamais-vu of the world.
January 28, 2020
I liked this one more than I expected, doubly so because I wouldn’t have picked it up but for the fact I’m reading my way through The Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series.
Romm does a good job of editing Seneca’s writings, helping to underline how Seneca’s advice altered and varied, how even a man who preached the importance of a good death could never quite settle on what that was. His thoughts on assisted suicide are fascinating and still relevant: not so much the political ones (how many dictators would love for their opposition to kill itself) but regarding terminal illness. At the same time, Seneca’s embrace of stoicism is logically sound but contrary to so much of human nature: what he can all perhaps appreciate from a distance is different when it’s our own loved one who dies. Recommended.
Romm does a good job of editing Seneca’s writings, helping to underline how Seneca’s advice altered and varied, how even a man who preached the importance of a good death could never quite settle on what that was. His thoughts on assisted suicide are fascinating and still relevant: not so much the political ones (how many dictators would love for their opposition to kill itself) but regarding terminal illness. At the same time, Seneca’s embrace of stoicism is logically sound but contrary to so much of human nature: what he can all perhaps appreciate from a distance is different when it’s our own loved one who dies. Recommended.
April 30, 2024
While Seneca’s opinions were probably very useful for the time period in which they were written, I feel a good deal of it is less valuable today. He seems a bit too hasty when it comes to suicide, stating that if you aren’t having a good life, the best answer is to just kill yourself. I think I speak for everyone when I say that that’s a bit extreme. However, I do find a lot of wisdom in his writing on grieving and being ready to accept death when the time comes. Overall, I find this to be an interesting and insightful work that should definitely be considered valuable, but not something to live by.
January 31, 2021
“You are scared of dying and tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?”
- Seneca
No one likes to talk about death. I once read an article, maybe from Psychology Today or something, that said people — young, old, healthy and terminally ill alike — feel a pang of anxiety when they’re prompted to think about their mortality. Even reading or hearing the word “death” makes a little part of our brains turn away in disgust.
And yet nothing can help focus your life more than the contemplation of your death, even if it’s uncomfortable; the fact that you never know when it might come, the immediacy that each day demands for you to live up to your full potential, to ideally never waste a second on what Robert Greene calls “dead time,” activities that so lack any type of enrichment that you might as well be waiting to die... all of these are amplified by momento mori.
It’s a powerful concept laid out by one of the most influential Stoics in this book.
And even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s worth it.
It’s more than just a bucket list. It’s not all about what you wished you had experienced, as if life can be reduced to a list of adventure activities to do and countries to visit; it’s about how you treated other people while you were alive, what you did with the time and talents you were given.
Ask yourself the next time you get into an argument with a loved one if you’d be happy knowing that was the last time you ever saw them and you’re guaranteed to loosen up.
Pretend a future version of yourself is looking down from heaven and seeing that you averaged 8 hours of screen time a day, most of it mindless surfing, and you’re guaranteed to rethink your priorities.
- Seneca
No one likes to talk about death. I once read an article, maybe from Psychology Today or something, that said people — young, old, healthy and terminally ill alike — feel a pang of anxiety when they’re prompted to think about their mortality. Even reading or hearing the word “death” makes a little part of our brains turn away in disgust.
And yet nothing can help focus your life more than the contemplation of your death, even if it’s uncomfortable; the fact that you never know when it might come, the immediacy that each day demands for you to live up to your full potential, to ideally never waste a second on what Robert Greene calls “dead time,” activities that so lack any type of enrichment that you might as well be waiting to die... all of these are amplified by momento mori.
It’s a powerful concept laid out by one of the most influential Stoics in this book.
And even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s worth it.
It’s more than just a bucket list. It’s not all about what you wished you had experienced, as if life can be reduced to a list of adventure activities to do and countries to visit; it’s about how you treated other people while you were alive, what you did with the time and talents you were given.
Ask yourself the next time you get into an argument with a loved one if you’d be happy knowing that was the last time you ever saw them and you’re guaranteed to loosen up.
Pretend a future version of yourself is looking down from heaven and seeing that you averaged 8 hours of screen time a day, most of it mindless surfing, and you’re guaranteed to rethink your priorities.
May 27, 2018
Among the writings of Seneca, the Ancient Greek Stoic, is no explicit guide to death, such as this book. However, his consideration of death so often impacted all of his philosophy that this collection of those thoughts from all of his work becomes a new way to explore some of the darkest and deepest of his thought that is absolutely worth reading.
From the lightest and most hopeful admonitions to live each day in the light of one's mortality, through the consequences to a life experienced in the shadow of death, to explicit and potentially surprising treatise on the potential nobility of choosing one's own time and method of death, here is a fresh, immediate, and accessible new translation of Seneca that the lay reader can easily appreciate.
Notes are given in italics throughout the text, and offer an easy flow to Seneca's thoughts, even as the selections are borrowed from many different epistles, and from diverse and even contradictory contexts throughout all of his writing. The original Latin is included, as well as a helpful introduction.
Besides the content, the book itself is gorgeous. Quarter bound in buckram, with black end papers, and a lovely dust cover, I recommend any reader find this same edition to enjoy this little romp through the dark valley.
As for Seneca's philosophy, I will only humbly suggest that the Stoic perspective leans a little too hard away from a healthy acknowledgement of our real emotions in death and loss. We are not built to reason away our guilt, or rationalize our fear or apprehension of death and dying out of our heads. And suicide is not really a decision that most make in the coldly mathematical ways presented in most of this book. We are creatures not only of mind, but also meat. I love the book, but recognize the flaw in placing pure thought so high above feeling.
I think maybe I'd like to give Seneca a big hug and a kiss, and a bowl of ice cream.
☠
How to Die: An Ancient Guide To The End Of Life
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Hardcover, First
Princeton University Press, 2018
Introduced, Edited, and Translated from Latin by James S. Romm
(I absolutely recommend this book along with more popular books or media from the goth subculture. My complementary reading was Anne Rice. So dark. Very spook. Much black.)
Four Stars
May 5-11, 2018
☠
From the lightest and most hopeful admonitions to live each day in the light of one's mortality, through the consequences to a life experienced in the shadow of death, to explicit and potentially surprising treatise on the potential nobility of choosing one's own time and method of death, here is a fresh, immediate, and accessible new translation of Seneca that the lay reader can easily appreciate.
Notes are given in italics throughout the text, and offer an easy flow to Seneca's thoughts, even as the selections are borrowed from many different epistles, and from diverse and even contradictory contexts throughout all of his writing. The original Latin is included, as well as a helpful introduction.
Besides the content, the book itself is gorgeous. Quarter bound in buckram, with black end papers, and a lovely dust cover, I recommend any reader find this same edition to enjoy this little romp through the dark valley.
As for Seneca's philosophy, I will only humbly suggest that the Stoic perspective leans a little too hard away from a healthy acknowledgement of our real emotions in death and loss. We are not built to reason away our guilt, or rationalize our fear or apprehension of death and dying out of our heads. And suicide is not really a decision that most make in the coldly mathematical ways presented in most of this book. We are creatures not only of mind, but also meat. I love the book, but recognize the flaw in placing pure thought so high above feeling.
I think maybe I'd like to give Seneca a big hug and a kiss, and a bowl of ice cream.
☠
How to Die: An Ancient Guide To The End Of Life
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Hardcover, First
Princeton University Press, 2018
Introduced, Edited, and Translated from Latin by James S. Romm
(I absolutely recommend this book along with more popular books or media from the goth subculture. My complementary reading was Anne Rice. So dark. Very spook. Much black.)
Four Stars
May 5-11, 2018
☠
June 4, 2018
Like the other books in this series, the book is actually half its physical thickness, as it includes the Latin to read along with. However, despite that fact, I recommend this book as a useful and carefully curated collection of Seneca's thoughts on death. For those who are fans of Meditations, this is a perfect complement to that genre of book, a collection of aphorisms on dealing with death.
In particular, I liked Seneca's views on taking a lifetime to die. Seneca argues that since death only happens once, we should prepare well for it especially since it might come as a surprise. Seneca repeats that there is nothing to fear for in death, because it is the same state as before birth, that we always wish for more life even though it's rote and repetitive and it's better to live life well than live life long. The book is filled with examples of men and women who faced death bravely and calmly as well as those who faced it in a cowardly manner. While Seneca's work has serious implications for suicide and euthanasia that many might not agree with [Seneca often refers to suicide as an easy way to escape unbearable pain, an easy path to absolute freedom from all earthly tyranny. He also shares thoughts related to dying with dignity by controlling one's death], I think one would benefit from exposing themselves at least to his ideas (not the least of which is that suicide should be postponed for those we care about). Seneca discusses the folly of fearing death, because it can come at anytime and outside of our control, as well as the belief that Nature decides correctly when our time is due. In the greater scheme of things, everything is alright and dictated by Nature per Stoic belief. In one passage, Seneca discusses death caused by natural disasters and notes that considering the many silly things that could kill us, including some phlegm, why not go out in a bang like an earthquake?
The book ends with a description by Tactius of Seneca's death, which the book notes is evidence that Seneca practice what he taught. Forced to commit suicide by Nero, Seneca calmly and without complaint took his own life. An interesting end to an interesting figure and short collection.
In particular, I liked Seneca's views on taking a lifetime to die. Seneca argues that since death only happens once, we should prepare well for it especially since it might come as a surprise. Seneca repeats that there is nothing to fear for in death, because it is the same state as before birth, that we always wish for more life even though it's rote and repetitive and it's better to live life well than live life long. The book is filled with examples of men and women who faced death bravely and calmly as well as those who faced it in a cowardly manner. While Seneca's work has serious implications for suicide and euthanasia that many might not agree with [Seneca often refers to suicide as an easy way to escape unbearable pain, an easy path to absolute freedom from all earthly tyranny. He also shares thoughts related to dying with dignity by controlling one's death], I think one would benefit from exposing themselves at least to his ideas (not the least of which is that suicide should be postponed for those we care about). Seneca discusses the folly of fearing death, because it can come at anytime and outside of our control, as well as the belief that Nature decides correctly when our time is due. In the greater scheme of things, everything is alright and dictated by Nature per Stoic belief. In one passage, Seneca discusses death caused by natural disasters and notes that considering the many silly things that could kill us, including some phlegm, why not go out in a bang like an earthquake?
The book ends with a description by Tactius of Seneca's death, which the book notes is evidence that Seneca practice what he taught. Forced to commit suicide by Nero, Seneca calmly and without complaint took his own life. An interesting end to an interesting figure and short collection.
April 5, 2020
"Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life."
Occasionally I pick up a book and read it at exactly the right time. Whilst the ideas of 'seizing the day' and 'treating each day as if it's your last' have become cliches, something about the above quote really spoke to me. I've been wishing the time away quite a lot recently - first for the process of buying a house to be over and now to get through this period of uncertainty - and it's just not a sustainable way to live. Seneca obviously wasn't writing to make me feel better about self-isolating, but it's quite amazing how something penned nearly 2,000 years ago still feels relatable.
The bits that weren't as relatable were still really interesting. This book is made up of Seneca's letters about how accepting death can help you live well, and the sections about suicide and being in control of your death made me think of Terry Pratchett's documentary on assisted dying. If it sounds morbid... it is, but it's also quite compassionate and comforting. I think it's fair to say that death was a bit closer to home in Roman society than in ours in general (I mean, we all still obviously die, but they had to deal with illness, gladiators, death sentences, slavery...) so some of it is a bit more bloodthirsty than is applicable to modern day, but it has helped me re-evaluate a bit.
Turns out Seneca practiced what he preached too; the last chapter is a surprisingly gory account (written by witnesses) of his and his wife's suicides after they were accused of conspiring against Nero. Oh, the Romans.
Occasionally I pick up a book and read it at exactly the right time. Whilst the ideas of 'seizing the day' and 'treating each day as if it's your last' have become cliches, something about the above quote really spoke to me. I've been wishing the time away quite a lot recently - first for the process of buying a house to be over and now to get through this period of uncertainty - and it's just not a sustainable way to live. Seneca obviously wasn't writing to make me feel better about self-isolating, but it's quite amazing how something penned nearly 2,000 years ago still feels relatable.
The bits that weren't as relatable were still really interesting. This book is made up of Seneca's letters about how accepting death can help you live well, and the sections about suicide and being in control of your death made me think of Terry Pratchett's documentary on assisted dying. If it sounds morbid... it is, but it's also quite compassionate and comforting. I think it's fair to say that death was a bit closer to home in Roman society than in ours in general (I mean, we all still obviously die, but they had to deal with illness, gladiators, death sentences, slavery...) so some of it is a bit more bloodthirsty than is applicable to modern day, but it has helped me re-evaluate a bit.
Turns out Seneca practiced what he preached too; the last chapter is a surprisingly gory account (written by witnesses) of his and his wife's suicides after they were accused of conspiring against Nero. Oh, the Romans.
February 9, 2019
A good (very) brief introduction to Seneca and stoic views on death--selections mostly from his letters to Lucilius, written quite late in life, not long before Nero required him to commit suicide. Seneca produced almost endless variations on the theme of "A wise man lives as long as he should, not as long as he can." Romm is a professor of classics and the author of a very good biography of Seneca, and his translations here are excellent. There is, or will be, a similar book How to Keep Your Cool by the same author and editor, along with How to Be a Friend by Cicero and How to Win an Election by Cicero's brother. These are apparently aimed at introductory courses for undergraduates. All of them are readily available in other translations and at far lower prices.
May 12, 2018
Wonderful collection of pithy bites of wisdom from Seneca’s works and this time it’s about how to die. As usual Seneca lays the thought process behind the inevitability of death and proclaims boldly that one cannot say he lived happily if he did not die happily using all his wit and wisdom. Must read book.
February 1, 2022
As a collection of classical writings, the book is wonderful. But I don't think anyone should read it. At least, never to learn how to die. These writings should remain an academic exercise to the reader, mere curiosities, and nothing more. For 2 reasons:
First, rarely discussed in the modern resurgence of "Stoicism" is that the stoics were not antiquity's tough guy motivational speakers. Their attitude resulted from a disturbing metaphysics of eternal recurrence. They thought time was a circle. Every bad thing to ever happen to us, in this scheme, would occur again and again. Forever. Nonchalance against the world becomes an obvious virtue if one believes such a thing, perhaps even the only virtue. Time is not a circle, so we can dismiss the stoics, for my money.
But the biggest reason is the stoic's embrace of suicide. Their love for suicide is inexcusable. I've been in some pretty dark places, and I can attest that the last thing one needs--in such moments--is to read Seneca egging one on to kill themselves under the guise of bravery.
Death is always the enemy: of everyone and everything. And life, seen for what it is, is always good. Life is always loved, always be embraced, because life is always beautiful to all who see it clearly.
First, rarely discussed in the modern resurgence of "Stoicism" is that the stoics were not antiquity's tough guy motivational speakers. Their attitude resulted from a disturbing metaphysics of eternal recurrence. They thought time was a circle. Every bad thing to ever happen to us, in this scheme, would occur again and again. Forever. Nonchalance against the world becomes an obvious virtue if one believes such a thing, perhaps even the only virtue. Time is not a circle, so we can dismiss the stoics, for my money.
But the biggest reason is the stoic's embrace of suicide. Their love for suicide is inexcusable. I've been in some pretty dark places, and I can attest that the last thing one needs--in such moments--is to read Seneca egging one on to kill themselves under the guise of bravery.
Death is always the enemy: of everyone and everything. And life, seen for what it is, is always good. Life is always loved, always be embraced, because life is always beautiful to all who see it clearly.
October 28, 2020
Buku ini berisi kumpulan penggalan surat Seneca kepada sahabat-sahabatnya. Dalam surat-suratnya tersebut Seneca kerap membicarakan kematian dan betapa kematian bukanlah sesuatu yang seharusnya ditakuti karena kematian pasti akan datang dan merupakan takdir semua makhluk hidup.
Beberapa surat menurutku masih terlalu keras, ya, terutama bab IV, di mana Seneca menganggap bahwa bunuh diri merupakan sebuah tindakan yang membebaskan, menurutku pribadi bab IV terlalu menunjukkan overglorifying-nya Seneca terhadap bunuh diri.
Selain itu, surat-surat lainnya sifatnya seperti pengingat: Kematian itu pasti, kita lahir pun sebenarnya juga sebenarnya tujuannya pada kematian, jangan takut menghadapi kematian, dsb.
"Titik akhir kita sudah ditentukanssuai dengan suratan takdir yang niscaya, tetapi tidak ada di antara kita yang tahu masih berapa jauh tujuan akhir perjalanan kita"
Beberapa surat menurutku masih terlalu keras, ya, terutama bab IV, di mana Seneca menganggap bahwa bunuh diri merupakan sebuah tindakan yang membebaskan, menurutku pribadi bab IV terlalu menunjukkan overglorifying-nya Seneca terhadap bunuh diri.
Selain itu, surat-surat lainnya sifatnya seperti pengingat: Kematian itu pasti, kita lahir pun sebenarnya juga sebenarnya tujuannya pada kematian, jangan takut menghadapi kematian, dsb.
"Titik akhir kita sudah ditentukanssuai dengan suratan takdir yang niscaya, tetapi tidak ada di antara kita yang tahu masih berapa jauh tujuan akhir perjalanan kita"
February 3, 2024
Honestly it was a cute little book, I am pretty into this kind of stuff so I really enjoyed it but I can definitely see how it wouldn’t be for most people. I think he says a lot of interesting things in here and really got me thinking about how I perceive life and death which coming from a man 2000 years ago is kinda of crazy. If your into the stoics the. Check it out and it’s super short so it’s not a huge commitment
July 16, 2024
Through Seneca’s writing, he provides a normality of death. For me, he has reframed death it as a natural stage in the cycle of life. Am I still afraid of it? A little less now, but I have a greater appreciation and acceptance for death and dying.
January 21, 2024
this book might seem suicidal and it is if you don't retrospect the things said. it teaches you how you can't invest too much planning for the future as it is not promised. it would help if you didn't fear floods as a droplet can kill you. this book is not about dying but why you shouldn't fear about it. one quote I loved here- "which do you think more fair, I ask you: that you obey nature, or that nature obey you?"
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