Stop Wasting Time!! (Cuz You’ll Be DEAD Before You Know It)

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” — Annie Dillard

Imagine that the moment you are born that your number of allotted years is represented as a fishbowl of water. For some, the bowl of water represents 90 or more years. Sadly, others only get a day. Most of us are allotted days somewhere in between. But, the fact of the matter is that the quantity is quite finite. In more morbid terms, we all march inexorably to our deaths from the moment we enter this world.

Now, this is a most unsettling thought! So unsettling, in fact, that most of us can’t handle it. Sure, we all know we’re going to die – in a 21st century intellectually rationalist sort of way. But, we really don’t BELIEVE it – nosiree, not with the same conviction that we believe, for example, that the sun will rise tomorrow. Seneca tells us as much when he writes;

 “You live as if you would live forever; the thought of human frailty never enters your head, you never notice how much of your time is already spent.” ———— Seneca (quotes in green)

I don’t know about you … but, that pretty much sounds like me. I rarely give my fishbowl much thought.

SENECA – THE VERY RICH STOIC

Seneca states that not only do we refuse to come to terms with our very brief time on earth but, even worse, we waste away the precious little time we do possess. He goes into considerable detail showing how we shackle ourselves to our labors and our professions. He laments that we give so much of ourselves – in terms of time – to those who do nothing but waste our time. He considered it a tragedy that too many die as if they were children, never having learned to live a full life. In modern terms he would say we’re all too happy that etched on our tombstones is our greatest accomplishment; “He filled out all his expense reports on time.”

Seneca was a Stoic. Stoicism is not a popular philosophy today, especially in America. Why? Stoics don’t believe in Hope, or Materialism! That won’t fly in this country where our last eight years were based on the Hopey and Changy thingee from our half-black President …. or the instruction from the moron from Texas to ‘Go Buy Stuff!” immediately after 19 Saudi’s brought down the Twin Towers. Not to mention that the New Testament proclaims that the three greatest gift that remain throughout eternity are “faith, HOPE, and love”.   Stoicism is just not “natural” to most Americans.

“The greatest hindrance to living is expectancy [hope], which depends upon the morrow and wastes today. You dispose of that which lies in the hands of Fortune, you let go that which lies in your own. Whither do you look? At what goal do you aim? All things that are still to come lie in uncertainty; live straightway! But those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear for the future have a life that is very brief and troubled; when they have reached the end of it, the poor wretches perceive too late that for such a long while they have been busied in doing nothing.”

That really doesn’t fit our “Power Of Positive Thinking” culture. I can almost envision all the nasty comments fomenting in your minds!

On top of that, the other criticism is that Seneca was very very rich …. certainly in the Top 5 in all of the Roman Empire. An elite. The one-percenter of his day. Someone who could afford to gaze at his navel, and contemplate esoteric teachings …. unattainable, in practical terms, to ninety-nine percent of the rest of the empire’s population. Furthermore, Seneca wrote his letter to his friend Paulinus who had responsibility for maintaining the entire grain supply for the Roman Empire. As such, Paulinus was just as rich as Seneca.  In modern parlance, it would be like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet pontificating on “what it all means”. Most people would find whatever these two old Cooters came up with to be above their pay grade.

Nevertheless, “On the shortness of life” is considered one of the great ancient classics. Sure, I find some of the philosophy to be quite objectionable. But, few philosophies are one hundred percent incorrect. Throw out the bad, and keep the good. And Seneca has some terrific advice … pertinent even to our times.

Before we look at just a few key passages, I believe you’ll find it worthwhile to familiarize yourself with Stoicism by watching the following under five minute video. Some say Stoics were pessimists. I think they’re realists. Decide for yourself.

5 MAIN POINTS

1)– Stop Making The Complaint – “There’s just not enough time.”

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it..”

Seneca says that people complain about the “meanness of nature” because our lives are so brief, and we aren’t given enough time to live them. However, this is not the fault of the gods … it is solely our fault. Mankind is cursed by insatiable greed, and that greed causes a slavish dedication to useless tasks. He quotes an unnamed poet: “It is a small part of life we really live.” He then notes a number of ways in which man spends time not living;

— slothfulness

— drunkenness

— working to make others rich

— serving or associating with thankless people

— worrying about what other people think of us

— procrastination is “idiotic” and may be the biggest “sin” of all

— being involved in activities where the main motivation is greed

— having too many goals, or no fixed goal at all … he recommends having one primary life goal, picking just one thing, even if it’s the wrong thing

2)– The “preoccupied” find life very short.

 “Indeed the state of all who are preoccupied is wretched, but the most wretched are those who are toiling not even at their own preoccupations but must regulate their sleep by another’s, their walk by another’s pace, and obey orders in those freest of all things, loving and hating. If such people want to know how short their lives are, let them reflect how small a portion is their own. …. the preoccupied become aware of life only when it is over.”

The “preoccupied” are not only those who toil for other men, but also those who live a life of leisure. People who have so much free time on their hands that they are involved with such trivialities as “those who arrange with anxious precision his Corinthian bronzes”. Not all leisure is truly leisure. What would he say if he walked into a Home Depot? He then uses a lot of ink to scorn those people who get angry because they received a bad haircut. (Really.) He observes that such people would be more upset by a bad haircut than in their own country being invaded. He wonders; “Which would not be more anxious about the elegance of his head than its safety?”    I wonder how America is any different … where only 20% of Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, but 90% can name all the men screwing the Kardashian women whores.

3)– Stop waiting for retirement to enjoy life, or do what you really want

“So you must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long. …….. Certain people reveal the most stupid indignation: they complain about the pride of their superiors because they did not have time to give them an audience when they wanted one. But can anyone dare to complain about another’s pride when he himself never has time for himself?”

Seneca is appalled that people put off leisure time until their retirement. he says it is supremely stupid to wait until one’s mental and physical faculties are in decline to devote one’s wisdom to life and living.

He gives the example of Emperor Augusts who was heavily burdened by the responsibilities of his post. It was Augusts’ desire for leisure that comes with old age that gave him solace in his labors. Yet, there is sorrow in Augusts’ final words on his death bed; — “Did I play the part well? Then applaud as I exit.”. Like a tragic Shakespearean play, Augusts’ life was merely a role he played for the benefit of the audience.

He continues on with Cicero — one of Rome’s greatest politicians and orators — who wrote in a letter to a friend that he felt as if he were “half a prisoner” while lounging in his Tuscan estate. Cicero was so entangled within his duties and burdened by his commitments that even in leisure Cicero felt as if he were a prisoner. That, according to Seneca, is no way to live.

4)– How shall we then live?

“We are in the habit of saying that it was not in our power to choose the parents who were allotted to us, that they were given to us by chance. But we can choose whose children we would like to be; Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus, Aristotle, and Theophrastus ……… We are in the habit of saying that it was not in our power to choose the parents who were allotted to us, that they were given to us by chance. But we can choose whose children we would like to be.”

Philosophy is what makes life worth living! Not a surprising statement coming from a philosopher. Now, that doesn’t mean you should go to Barnes&Noble and purchase “The 100 Greatest Philosophers In History”.  According to Seneca, philosophy was quite simply a conscious and deliberate pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. We are properly engaged in the duties of life only by deliberate striving to uncover True Wisdom.

It is only by endeavoring to uncover true wisdom that we are properly engaged in the duties of life. The Stoics taught that we ought to live according to nature … and that humans ought to live according to our human nature. Learning and increasing in wisdom is man’s most natural and pleasant state … and should be a lifelong pursuit.

This is a difficult concept for Americans to accept. Most of us are defined by our work. “How dare you say my work doesn’t matter!”, is probably your reaction right now. As mentioned above, Seneca wrote his letter to Paulinus — the keeper of Rome’s grain supply, the man responsible for ensuring that citizens were fed and that starvation and famine didn’t run wild through the city. Yet, Seneca is telling his friend that being shackled to such responsibilities is no way to live one’s life! Wow, that’s a difficult pill to swallow.

Nevertheless, as one continues to read the rest of the letter, Seneca’s “bottom line” is an idea we can all support. Death is an inevitable conclusion to life, and ought not to be feared. Live life as if every day were your last, because it might just be. And don’t worry so much about filling out your expense report on time. Languishing about your lot in life is a complete waste of time. Instead, take time to cultivate your inner self, as the pursuit of True Wisdom is life’s greatest reward. And when we die, and die we will, we should die content with our lives, with ourselves, and with the beauty of our souls.

5) Take stock! A sobering chart.

 “Check off, I say, and review the days of your life; you will see that very few, and those the refuse, have been left for you.”

This is probably not what Seneca meant by checking-off and reviewing your life. However, as a visual aid of our lives in terms of time gone by, and the possible time left, I believe it can shock some of us into reality about the shortness of life. Print it out, stick it on your fridge, and check off each month. And, as you check off each month you might ask yourself; “How much time did I waste that month?” or, “How much time did I spend pursuing True Wisdom?”

YIKES!!!!

Fill in your name …. have fun.

FULL TEXT OF SENECA’S LETTER: https://tripinsurancestore.com//4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pdf

Oh, one last thing. If Seneca were alive today, he wouldn’t take a Selfie! He’d be too busy commenting on The Burning Platform … and then kill himself after talking with bb.

Author: Stucky

I'm right, you're wrong. Deal with it. View all posts by Stucky