"Passions" And "Cure Of Passions" Under The Horizon Of "Time"

As in the works of poet Homer,"passions" have already appeared as events which need to be understood,administrated and controlled by virtue of Agamemnon’s fear,Hera’s jealousy,Aeneas’ joy and so on;likewise,in works of the Roman stoic Lucius Annaeus Seneca,"passions" have also used the necessity of "cure of passions"to demonstrate that it is needed to be constraint,inhibited and even eradicated urgently.The purport of this dissertation is to inspect "passions" and "cure of passions"mainly underlying Seneca’s ad Lucilium epistulae morales,and reveal the two concepts’meanings on aspects of Stoic Psychology and Existentialism separately through the horizon of "time".To Seneca and orthodox stoics,"time" is unlimited perceivable quantities being occupied by God by virtue of perpetual activities reflecting "cosmic continuous movements" while God is pushing the cosmos,hence,all men in time are reigned by "providence",and they will do a series of daily activities reflecting "cosmic continuous movements" in a way of imitating God,in order that they can occupy a part of cosmic time as their "life".Due that "passions"are daily activities accompanying emotions of average men reigned by "providence",they are their tools for occupying life.Therefore,on aspect of existentialism,"passion"is lifestyle counter to natural law of average men reigned by "providence",and"cure of passions" is the emendation of this wrong lifestyle.Given that "life" is the sum of "time",which will be consumed in man’s whole life,"death" can be deemed as the possessor of "life".It is followed that "death",which should be the terminal event to every mortal,has the same effect as "future":everyone who exists toward"future" is also the one who exists toward "death".And this point reveals how "cure of passions" could be a return to "life according to nature" exactly,that is,select several days regularly,always plan oneself to live according to nature consciously during this period,in order that one can during this period open "cosmos" as his existential space,to exist in posture of "living toward death" voluntarily,and in a way to amend one’s past lifestyle to lifestyle according to nature during this period to get health again.On aspect of Stoic Psychology,due that "time" is the parameter which limits timeliness of "judgments of passions" being evaluated by good or evil,and any particular "passions" of soul originates from recurring of relevant particular "disease"of soul,"disease" is habit of arising various passions towards certain valuable things,"passions" are average men’s particular evil behaviors towards particular valuable things accompanying wrong emotions;accordingly,"cure of passions" is to inhibit passions’ coming into being by refusing "judgments of passions",or to arise therapeutic and appropriate emotions by adjusting "judgments of appropriation".Furthermore,given that it is Heidegger’s "cura" triggered me to ponder this topic,the epilogue of this disserataion pointed out while analyzing Seneca’s concept "cura" that the "God" in Stoicism is always in "time",and it is hence to be the exemplar of everyone who exists for the sake of "life",so "cura" is the existent posture only belonging to average men,not to human-beings.