This post is about overcoming passive suicidal ideation through Stoic principles. Please reach out to your care team, or online support organisation, if you are feeling suicidal. International Mental Health Contact Information.

This morning, I read the stoic philosopher, Seneca’s letter to Lucilius about vain syllogisms.

A syllogism is a foundational form of deductive reasoning where a specific conclusion is logically drawn from two given propositions (premises). For an argument to be valid, the conclusion must necessarily follow from the absolute truth of the premises. Google search result 05 June 2026.

Nearing the end of the letter, Seneca writes about the difference between a wise person’s goal and a sailor’s goal. He says the wise person’s goal is not to achieve everything at all costs but to do everything correctly; a sailor’s goal is to bring a ship safely to port at all costs.

I mostly focused on the sailor is it spurred me to think about how we are our own sailors of these bodies we inhabit. As a person who struggles with mental illness, I have moments where I am not sure if I will reach my natural end, so, I feel like I am a sailor working this vessel to my final port, safely.

In the letter, Seneca argues that a sailor is always skilful, even when storms upend his fortunes. In fact, a sailor has two positions upon a vessel, much like how we have more than one position in our lives (mother, father, daughter, brother, etc.). A sailor is both a traveler and a skilful navigator. Even if his sailor skills are being developed, he has the skills of a sailor and not just a traveler. So, we are similar in each of our own paths in life.

The storms of life and the seas will test the traveler and his resolve to reach his goals, but his sailor skills will remain unharmed even if tides wash over the vessel and tip it over. A sailor knows how to respond to such events.

Which led me to think about all of the skills I have learned in life to manage my bipolar disorder and post-traumatic disorder. Like a sailor, I have learned skills that the waves of fortune may crash against. I may be toppled into the seas of chaos like a traveler, but those skills will eventually lead me to my final port safely, even if I have to swim, or depend upon rescue. I could drown, but a skilful sailor knows how to die a good death. And so I shall endeavour to be like the sailor in my mental health struggles.

These are my morning thoughts. I wish you the skills of a sailor in all your journeys and that you may reach your final port safely.