I rarely read books or essays multiple times, but this one was an exception. It’s called Completeness, Self-Sufficiency, and Intimacy in Seneca’s Account of Friendship, written by Carissa Phillips-Garrett.

Carissa takes us on an expanding and provoking journey, meandering through many contradictory lenses through which to practice friendship.

She explores at length the tension between self sufficiency and intimacy. The question is asked implicitly: What interconnections build a full life?

In my view, friendship is drastically neglected in religious and philosophical writings, which usually focus on romantic and familial relationships, as well as how to help those in need.

In stoicism, a true friend is someone who “activates our virtue.” The Buddhist idea that “there is no self without the other” is invoked here, as many of ...