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Life is too short to live in anger.
Life is too short to live in anger.
Description
Book Introduction
A word from MD
If I get angry, I'll only lose out
It's exactly as the title says.
Life is too short to be angry and things won't get better.
And yet we all get angry and regret it.
Why is that?
In this book, philosopher Jinwoo Lee, an authority on Nietzsche, focuses on Stoic philosophy.
We read deeply about Seneca, who faced negative emotions head-on.
Instead of feeling frustrated, read and find peace with this book.
September 12, 2025. Humanities PD Son Min-gyu
We look at 'negative emotions', which have been mainly dealt with from a psychological perspective, through the eyes of the classical philosopher Seneca.
The insights into negative emotions found in Seneca's writings, including "On Anger," are unraveled through various problems and thoughts encountered in life.
In particular, it examines the suffering we experience in life from ten perspectives and guides us on how to break free from the emotions and thoughts that interfere with inner peace.
It talks about how to deal with harmful emotions that make life more painful, such as anger and the desire for revenge that comes from it, envy and jealousy that come from comparing yourself to others, anxiety about life being out of control and fear of death, and complaints that come from not being able to acknowledge what you have been given.
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index
Prologue: The "Life Skills" Needed in an Age of Disorientation and Madness

Chapter 1: Why We Get Angry

'Momentary Madness': You Can't Be Angry Without Being Mad
Anger always finds an excuse
Anger arises only where reason exists.
You have to delay anger to control it.

Chapter 2: Don't be angry because others have more than you.

Greed is like a plague
Comparing yourself to others makes you feel poor.
The more you leave yourself to luck, the more confused you become.
Voluntary poverty enriches the mind.

Chapter 3: If you seek revenge, you will also be in danger.

Anger wants revenge
There is no such thing as good anger
Ignore those who ignore you

Chapter 4: Taming Adversity: Focus on What You Can Control

Disaster strikes even good people.
Don't expect the worst and take life for granted.
Focus on what you can control

Chapter 5: Overcoming Anxiety: When You Stop Hoping, You Stop Fearing

We are anxious because we cannot find our own life.
Worries about the future eat away at your present life.
To eliminate anxiety, live in the present.

Chapter 6: How to Use Your Time Well: Don't Procrastinate

The more you chase after useless things, the more you become a slave to time.
If I pay attention, time becomes mine.
Full time is time for freedom

Chapter 7: Living Fully with Death: Live Every Day as if It were Your Last

Life and death are not opposites.
I have to live truly to tell my story.
Freedom from death sets us free
Choose your own way of death

Chapter 8 Complaining and Gratitude: If You Don't Get Annoyed, You Won't Get Annoyed

What can I do with my irritation?
The more you complain, the more uncomfortable life becomes.
Being grateful brings you closer to happiness.

Chapter 9 You Can't Get Away From Yourself

A journey to yourself
A road without a destination is not a road.
Have a purpose that centers your life.

Chapter 10: Let Go of What Isn't Mine

Freedom is living as your whole self.
A happy life comes from the friendship of free people.
Knowing your limits brings happiness.

Epilogue: A Life-Changing Philosophy of Everyday Life

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References

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Into the book
Chapter 1: Why We Get Angry
'Momentary Madness': You Can't Be Angry Without Being Mad
In answering these questions about anger, a representative disease of modern people, Seneca's Stoic philosophy serves as a good guide.
The philosophical questions about emotions that he addressed in “On Fire” actually run through all of his writings.
Only by controlling our emotions can we become rational beings.
The wisdom of a 'good life' can only be gained by becoming free from emotions.
--- p.24

Anger arises only where reason exists.
Anger and rage, the enemies of reason, arise only where reason intervenes.
Emotions are neither good nor bad unless we judge them with reason.
Seneca says:
“Reason and passion do not reside in separate and distinct places, but are rather changes in the mind for better or worse.” It is our judgment that changes our mind for better or worse.
--- p.38

Chapter 2: Don't be angry because others have more than you.
Greed is like a plague
21st century capitalist society reproduces the decadence of the Roman era.
Food, travel to remote areas, and luxury goods are cultural phenomena of the Seneca era, just with different names.
The capitalist lifestyle of imitating others takes excess and indulgence for granted.
Vice now drives out and ridicules virtue.
Virtue is trite, vice is charming.
--- p.56~57

Chapter 3: If you seek revenge, you will also be in danger.
Anger wants revenge
The desire for revenge is human nature.
It makes me even angrier when I want revenge but can't actually do it.
Imagine being reprimanded for no reason by your boss at work or being the target of unfair anger.
Inside, you feel angry and imagine revenge, but there is no way to actually get revenge.
The desire for revenge that is not fulfilled may further corrupt the soul.
Suppressed anger finds an unexpected scapegoat.
This is how a disease occurs.
--- p.84

Ignore those who ignore you
Seneca says that those who insult us are like "adult children who have grown up without permission."
It is foolish to be angry at the insults of adult children, just as it is foolish for a mother to be angry at the insults of a child.
--- p.97

Chapter 4: Taming Adversity: Focus on What You Can Control
Don't expect the worst and take life for granted.
If you can anticipate misfortune, you can prevent it.
But no matter how hard we try to prevent bad things from happening, they will eventually happen.
If bad things are going to happen, we need to make them less painful and less impactful on our lives.
According to Seneca, the reason is simple.
He who foresees disaster in advance weakens its power.
--- p.109

Chapter 5: Overcoming Anxiety: When You Stop Hoping, You Stop Fearing
Worries about the future eat away at your present life.
Hope is thus imbued with anxiety about the present.
Wild animals avoid immediate danger and are calm once they are out of danger.
The antelope, which had been terrified by the lions a moment ago, now grazes leisurely as it escapes danger.
But humans suffer from what has passed and what is to come.
Memory brings to mind the pain and suffering of the past, and foresight anticipates the pain and suffering of the future, which has not yet arrived.
--- p.134

Chapter 6: How to Use Your Time Well: Don't Procrastinate
The more you chase after useless things, the more you become a slave to time.
The virtue of a high-speed society is acceleration.
The belief that increasing the pace of development will lead to the life and society we desire drives us to run toward the future.
A characteristic of an accelerating society is the ‘reduction of the present.’
The period of time over which expectations based on past experiences or the future clearly match is reduced.
The present time to reflect on the past is gradually decreasing, and the future has already arrived before we even expected it.
--- p.148

Chapter 7: Living Fully with Death: Live Every Day as if It were Your Last
Life and death are not opposites.
“We die every day,” Seneca said to his friend Lucilius, with whom he shared and discussed life’s problems.
We think that we will die suddenly in the distant future, but in fact, we are moving towards death little by little.
Every day we have a part of our lives taken away from us.
Even while we are still growing, our lives are shrinking.
And Seneca says:
“If a person doesn’t know how to die well, he can’t live well.”
--- p.169~170

Chapter 8 Complaining and Gratitude: If You Don't Get Annoyed, You Won't Get Annoyed
What can I do with my irritation?
Complaining causes many dysfunctions.
Complaining reinforces discontent, angers others, breaks trust, and makes the complainer look negative.
All the energy spent complaining is not only a huge waste of time and productivity, it also amplifies the initial frustration that led us to complain.
Complaining doesn't improve anything.
--- p.202

Chapter 9 You Can't Get Away From Yourself
A journey to yourself
Modern people seek all kinds of distractions to avoid facing their inner lives.
Instead of focusing on facing and solving your own problems, you turn away from them and turn your attention outward.
We move more busily to avoid feelings of emptiness, loneliness, or depression.
I become more distracted and less focused.
--- p.226

Chapter 10: Let Go of What Isn't Mine
Freedom is living as your whole self.
However, this does not mean that true happiness awaits us at the end of life.
Life is a road, and happiness lies along that road.
For he who strives to develop a sound character at every moment of his journey will possess deep inner satisfaction and the best and most enduring happiness.
--- p.245

Publisher's Review
“Why do we constantly get angry and cause ourselves pain?”
Anger, jealousy, anxiety, fear... as seen by the philosopher Seneca two thousand years ago.

Philosophy doesn't get angry.

The Art of Thinking to Free Yourself from the Emotions That Drive You into Suffering

Life is a series of problems, big and small, but sometimes it is our minds that cause us more suffering than the problems themselves.
You feel angry at selfish colleagues who only put their own opinions forward, jealous of successful friends, and anxious and fearful about an uncertain future.
These emotions follow us through our daily lives, disrupting our peace of mind and giving rise to self-destructive thoughts.
How can we break free from the negative emotions that plague us every day?

This book draws on Seneca's insights into negative emotions to guide you on how to find peace of mind in a stressful world.
Professor Jinwoo Lee, who has introduced a philosophy that responds to today's times in an easily understandable way, examines the suffering we face in life, such as anger, jealousy, revenge, anxiety, fear, and complaints, from ten perspectives and explores ways to deal with harmful emotions that disrupt inner peace.
It conveys the philosophical wisdom of maintaining emotional balance, from understanding the nature and characteristics of anger to managing momentary anger, avoiding the desire for revenge, and shaking off anxiety.

“Anger breeds endless greed and a desire for revenge.”
A disease of emotions that cannot be understood or controlled by reason


First, in Chapter 1, we will understand the emotion called anger and discuss how to manage it.
At first glance, it may seem reasonable, but in fact, the reasons and targets of our anger are indiscriminate.
Someone's loud voice makes me nervous and even a rock on the side of the road makes me angry.
Seneca recommends that we understand this indiscriminate emotion with reason while anger still lurks within us.
Because it is our judgment that makes the situation worse when we vent our anger.
The best way to deal with anger that hasn't yet become reality is to delay it.

If you still can't stop getting angry, you need to find out what's causing it.
Anger usually begins with the belief that I have been treated unfairly.
Chapters 2 and 3 examine how these beliefs lead to anger.
One is greed.
Modern people feel it is unfair that others have more than them, and they constantly desire it.
This book examines modern society, dominated by materialism, in light of Seneca's time, and discusses ways to be free from greed.
It focuses particularly on the envy and jealousy that arise from social comparison, and emphasizes the attitude of putting oneself at the center rather than others.
Another one is revenge.
The thought of being insulted or wronged by someone can trigger an explosion of anger and a desire to retaliate.
But revenge cannot soothe pain or repair damage.
Above all, I urge you to kill the desire for revenge, as it can put you at risk.

“If we become powerless in the face of unstoppable adversity and misfortune”
Always expect the worst and live in the present moment.


We get angry when unexpected disaster strikes, when unforeseen misfortunes occur repeatedly, and when things don't go as planned.
Chapter 4 provides wisdom on how to remain calm and not be discouraged in the face of disaster, adversity, and uncontrollable circumstances.
It is important to note that no one is completely immune to disaster and adversity, and it is suggested that to minimize misfortune, one should always anticipate the worst.
He also urges us not to take for granted what we have now, because the thought of being deprived of something makes us even more unhappy.
Above all, I advise you to focus on your inner self, which you can control, rather than on external circumstances that you cannot control.

In this way, we cannot control what happens in our lives, nor can we foresee the future.
Chapter 5 provides insight into the anxiety that inevitably accompanies an uncertain life.
Anxiety is the fear of things that have not yet happened and of our existence.
Humans imagine their lives tomorrow and live in the present with the hope that they will be able to become the beings they desire in the future.
This is the driving force of life, but it is also the cause of our anxiety.
This book suggests that to alleviate anxiety, we should turn our gaze from the future to the present.
He tells us that we can discover our potential only by staying true to the present and avoiding excessive worry about things that haven't happened yet.
Chapters 6 and 7 also offer insightful messages on issues we must face as we live our finite lives, such as how to fully enjoy the fleeting passage of time and how not to fear death, which we all cannot avoid.

“Life is a journey of discovering who you are.”
Find your own value and purpose in the life you've been given.


Another reason why our lives are painful is because it is difficult to accept the life we ​​have been given.
When we are dissatisfied with something in our lives, whether it be our abilities, the environment surrounding us, or the people around us, we suffer.
Chapter 8 deals with the complaints and irritation that come from dissatisfaction with life.
When we are unhappy with a person, a thing, or any event, we complain and get irritated.
This kind of emotional response may give you a momentary boost of mood, but it doesn't actually improve anything.
The more you complain, the more your dissatisfaction intensifies and your frustration grows.
To avoid becoming addicted to frustration and complaining, you need to separate your evaluation of facts from your emotional expression.
To protect your mind, you need to analyze what is causing your irritation.
An attitude of gratitude is also important.
Gratitude increases the good in our lives because it makes us more aware of who is good and what is good in our lives.
In chapters 9 and 10, I convey wisdom as a complete person despite numerous obstacles.
The destination of the journey called life is oneself, and to avoid wandering on that path, one must have sufficient conversation with oneself.
Ultimately, we can be free and happy when we live our lives with a clear purpose and true to ourselves in an ever-changing environment.

As long as we live, we cannot completely prevent the things that make us feel difficult and the emotional pain that comes with them.
But depending on how we perceive and think about it, it can either destroy our lives or become an opportunity for growth.
By practicing emotional balance with this book and philosophy, harmful emotions will not be able to penetrate deeply into our lives.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: August 27, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 288 pages | 474g | 140*210*20mm
- ISBN13: 9791155402566
- ISBN10: 1155402561

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