Henry asked:

O.K. I may have to admit it, but I am suffering from a chronic state of nervous exhaustion. I am 40 yrs
old and have had the problem for 10 years. How can philosophy help me?

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I think philosophy can help you. It could have helped you more if you had asked for advice before you
let things get to this stage.

From what I know of cases of nervous exhaustion, you are never going to get back to the way you
were. That life, the life that led to your being in this state, is over and finished. Whatever regrets you
may feel, it is a waste of energy to go over the why's and wherefore's. It is time to move on.

Psychologists emphasize the value of stress. Human beings are equipped to deal with stressful
situations. Adrenaline pumps into the blood, with the chemical changes we think more quickly,
physically we become stronger and can endure more. But not everyone benefits to the same extent,
or relishes the challenge of a stressful life. And no matter who you are, too much stress can hurt you,
sometimes permanently.

A philosopher friend once told me that the highest incidence of stomach ulcers amongst academics
occurred with those who did philosophy. That is something I can well believe. (I've seen them with
their glasses of milk.) Given the choice between some of the philosophy seminars I've attended, and
the Roman Colosseum, I'd choose to fight it out with the lions. Nor are things necessarily any easier
for the philosopher locked up in their study. Rodin's 'Thinker' is not having a nice time. He is in acute
mental pain.

Yet philosophy does not have to be about violent mental combat, or scaling the highest heights. As a
student of philosophy, you can learn to enjoy and appreciate the achievements of the great
philosophers. You can learn the joy of calm reflection.

The Medieval philosopher Boethius wrote his Consolations of Philosophywhile in prison, awaiting
what he knew would be an horrific torture and death on the charge of heresy. For the Stoics,
philosophy taught that the things we encounter or that happen to us in our lives only hurt us because
of our own ignorance, because we fail to see the wider picture or take a sufficiently detached
viewpoint. I do think, with the ancients, that the everyday world and its annoyances, disappointment,
and grief becomes smaller and less significant as our interest in philosophy becomes more. Try it and
see!

Geoffrey Klempner