Life is short. This phrase gets thrown around a lot by parents and grandparents, but have you ever actually stopped to question the validity of it yourself?
Is life actually short? Is there any way to make it longer? We know that human life is fragile, but for an average human being in a first world country with an average life expectancy of over 70 years, is life really short?
Yes, life is short... if you don't know how to spend it.
Part of the reason this phrase is so popular is because it is essentially true for the people saying it. If you spend your entire life chasing a pipe dream of 'happiness,' only to discover when you turned 55 that it was all for not, life is going to seem extremely short to you.
If, on the other hand, you live correctly, that is leisurely, you will find that life is plenty long, and death can actually be seen as something to be welcomed with open arms, rather than avoided at all costs. At least, that is according to ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca.
Check off, I say, and total up the days of your life: you will see that very few have been left for you, and the dregs at that. (On the Shortness of Life)
The Death of Seneca by Manuel Dominguez Sanchez
Seneca proposes that life is really only short for those who waste it.
It is not that we have a brief length of time to live, but that we squander a great deal of that time. Life is sufficiently long, and has been granted with enough generosity for us to accomplish the greatest things, provided that in its entirety it is well invested...
But if life is actually not short, but rather sufficiently long, then why is that this view is still so widely held in modern culture? That's a concept that even Seneca is quite intrigued by.
Even if all the brilliant minds of the ages focused their attention on this one subject, never could they sufficiently express their wonder at this blind spot in the human mind.
The fact that we are so unaware of the way that we waste our lives is so unusual that even the most brilliant minds in history couldn't adequately describe this phenomenon.
After all, it is quite unusual that we care so little about the time we spend. One could quite easily defend the idea that time is the most important resource a person can have, and yet most of us are more concerned with how we spend our money than how we spend our time. There is a reason for this.
We waste time because it is intangible.
We can't see our remaining time like we can see our remaining bank account balance, so when we waste time we don't feel like we are losing something in the same way we feel like we are losing money when we purchase something.
In this light it becomes quite clear how easy it is to squander your life away in pursuit of fame and fortune, and Seneca discusses this at length.
One such example Seneca provides is that of Augustus, founder of the Roman Empire.
Augustus, to whom the gods gave more blessings than to any other man, would constantly pray for rest and freedom from affairs of state; all his conversation repeatedly came back to this topic - his hope of leisure
Here we have a man whose life consisted of "more blessing than any other man," and yet all he really desired in the end was leisure.
This phenomenon is quite common in the modern world. We work tirelessly to achieve financial success, but in the process become so tethered to our work that all we really desire is leisure. We have fallen into a vicious circle.
So how do we break out of the circle and live a long, fulfilling life?
We must be particular about how we spend our time.
We spend so much of our time working for and worrying about others, time that we can never get back. It is your responsibility to use every waking moment wisely and deliberately if you wish to live a long life. Seneca favors one activity in particular.
Of all men only those who find time for philosophy are at leisure, only they are truly alive; for it is not only their own lifetime they guard well; they add every age to their own; all the years that have passed before them they requisition for their store.
All of the great thoughts of past thinkers combined with a general interest in the world and its workings is the perfect subject of inquiry for a person living a leisurely life. He further develops his thoughts on the superiority of philosophy over other pursuits by pointing out the unreliability of common aspirations like wealth and power, describing them as difficult to obtain and even more difficult to keep - a recipe for unhappiness.
Seneca goes on to recommend that one essentially befriend as many philosophers, or really anyone living a fulfilling life, as possible, such as to reap the positive benefits of their presence.
The ones you should regard as devoting time to the true duties of life are those who wish to have as their intimate friends every day Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus, and all the other high-priests of good learning, and Aristotle and Theophrastus. None of these will be 'too busy,' none will fail to send his visitor away a happier man or more devoted to his host; none will allow any man to leave him empty-handed; by night and by day all men on earth can enjoy their company.
I hope you enjoyed this post introducing the ideas of Seneca, On the Shortness of Life. If you enjoy reading articles that can help you improve your life through meaningful reflection, please follow @tylerkmwilliams.
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