Ask HN: How to be in peace with all the wrong in the world?
&gt; &quot;<i>I&#x27;m approaching 40 and I have no one I look up to as a role model (parents are fine but got the same problems as the general population)</i>&quot;<p>Seneca reminds us[0] that we may be the sons of whomsoever we will:<p>&quot;We are wont to say that it was not in our power to choose the parents who fell to our lot, that they have been given to men by chance; yet we may be the sons of whomsoever we will.  Households there are of noblest intellects; choose the one into which you wish to be adopted; you will inherit not merely their name, but even their property, which there will be no need to guard in a mean or niggardly spirit; the more persons you share it with, the greater it will become. These will open to you the path to immortality, and will raise you to a height from which no one is cast down.  This is the only way of prolonging mortality -nay, of turning it into immortality.  Honours, monuments, all that ambition has commanded by decrees or reared in works of stone, quickly sink to ruin; there is nothing that the lapse of time does not tear down and remove.  But the works which philosophy has consecrated cannot be harmed; no age will destroy them, no age reduce them; the following and each succeeding age will but increase the reverence for them, since envy works upon what is close at hand, and things that are far off we are more free to admire. The life of the philosopher, therefore, has wide range, and he is not confined by the same bounds that shut others in.  He alone is freed from the limitations of the human race; all ages serve him as if a god.  Has some time passed by?  This he embraces by recollection.  Is time present?  This he uses.   Is it still to come?  This he anticipates.  He makes his life long by combining all times into one.&quot;<p>&gt; &quot;<i>Is resignation the only way to keep sane?</i>&quot;<p>Resignation is not likely to produce the good you seek.<p>Epictetus&#x27; <i>Discourses</i> [1,2] offers advice on attaining and maintaining tranquility, even in the midst of hardship.<p>If you have the time and interest, a meditation retreat may offer deeper, experiential insight into the nature of existence; the topic comes up fairly regularly on HN[3].<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stoics.com&#x2F;seneca_essays_book_2.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stoics.com&#x2F;seneca_essays_book_2.html</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;epictetusdiscour01epicuoft" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;epictetusdiscour01epicuoft</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;epictetusdiscour02epicuoft" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;epictetusdiscour02epicuoft</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=vipassana&amp;sort=byPopularity&amp;prefix&amp;page=0&amp;dateRange=all&amp;type=story" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=vipassana&amp;sort=byPopularity&amp;pr...</a>