Seneca: Slowing Down Time

“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear for the future.”

A bust of Seneca in Seville. Seneca was born in modern Spain and is regarded as a local hero in Córdoba. (source: Wikimedia Commons)

At the beginning of Annie Hall, Woody Allen, speaking to camera, relays an old joke: two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of them says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I…