Monday, January 26, 2015
Letter 3
In Letter 3, Seneca talks about friendship. He says, "But if you think a
man you do not trust as fully as yourself is a friend, you are
grievously mistaken and do not understand the meaning of true
friendship." I agree with Seneca. Many people have acquaintances and
"friends", but true friendship should be someone that you can tell
everything to and trust that they will keep it a secret. Seneca also
says that before you think of someone as a friend, you must be skeptical
of them: "After friendship there must be full trust, but before it,
discretion." Before you go telling someone all of your secrets, you must
know that they are trustworthy and and reliable. Seneca also speaks
about the types of people that disclose all of their stories and secrets
to anyone that will listen and those that tell no one anything. He says
both of these are incorrect. Seneca asks these questions, "Why should I
watch my words in the presence of my friend? Why should I not consider
myself alone in his presence?" Everyone should have a friend that they
can trust as much as they trust themselves, and based on everything that
Seneca has said and the questions he asks, he understood the true
meaning of friendship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It is so interesting that there is such a different concept of friend at this period of time as there is in our culture. People today can have hundreds of even thousands of "friends" on facebook or other social media, and these are not people who we would be totally open and trusting of, like Seneca suggests with all friends. Even in real life, we often have many people who we would not be interested in sharing our life story with, and yet we consider them friends.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world, an individual usually has so many people they consider to be their "best friends". A true best friend should be someone we entrust everything to with complete confidence. We have all misplaced trust in people, and the feeling of having our secrets told is an awful one. Seneca shows the value of having a small circle of people to go through our walk of life with. It is often times far more rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Seneca's assertion that the title friend, or best friend, should be assigned to only those who have proven their loyalty and honesty. However, I think that their is a larger spectrum from a best friend to an acquaintance. Just because one can't be trusted with secrets does not immediately place them in the same level of friendship as strangers or mere acquaintances. I had an easier time believing Aristotle's understanding of friendship because he acknowledges that there are a variety of friends: best friends, friends for pleasure and friend for utility.
ReplyDeleteSeneca provides great insight on such a universal and timeless concept of friendship. Today we often look hold the quantity of our "friends" of greater significance than the quality of them. However, how many of our so called "friends" can we genuinely trust and truly let in. Seneca places the utmost importance on being able to trust your true friends. This is very relevant all throughout time and still in our modern world. We all have misplaced trust in individuals and paid the price. It is crucial to recall Seneca's ideas and values on friendship as they are still relevant and applicable in our lives today.
ReplyDelete