Seneca- On the shortness of Life
“De Brevitate Vitae”
Among my favorite stoic philosophers, I regard Seneca’s wisdom to be profound and his teachings to be somewhat poignant. He was very much in touch with the realities of human existence despite being caught up in state affairs and a rather busy life. Stoic philosophers differ from other conventional philosophers in the sense that they practiced their philosophy instead of just holding dialogues about it.
In Seneca’s words we can find eye-opening truths and the kind of honesty that we may find daunting. In his book, “on the shortness of life” he writes of the ways in which majority of us are guilty of spending our lives. He talks about the inevitable. Death. The idea of which scares each one of us so we would rather distract ourselves from thinking about it.
“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last.”
Although generosity is a virtue, but in some things we need to be prudent, in fact a little selfish. Our time is something we should keep a track of. We should learn to discipline ourselves to spend it right. He says, “People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
In present times, our lives are busier than ever. But most of us are busy in useless activities although we try hard to convince ourselves that we are being productive. We are passive in how we spend our days and find gratification through day dreaming and virtual rewards.
The book elaborates on how life is not really short but we make it so. A person who makes each day count and does not put all their hopes in a distant future may find life fulfilling and anxiety-free.
The distance between us and these great minds is that of centuries. Our way of living is different from theirs in every way but the thing about truths is that they are timeless. They are not for a specific period, place or people. Learning the principles that were taught hundreds of years ago might save humanity from dying a spiritual death in an increasingly virtual lifestyle.
