Book Club Friday's (#13) - On The Shortness of Life (De breathe vitae)

eldergill (52)in #bookclub • 6 years ago

Background on Seneca:

Seneca, born in southern Spain over 2,000 years ago in 4 BC and educated in Rome was a high-ranking financial clerk who pursued a career in politics. He worked with Emperor Nero as his tutor and advisor for a number of years which is where he was subsequently killed by order of Nero himself due to suspicion of Seneca being treacherous. He died in 65 AD. He was interested in many different types of philosophies but sold himself on the idea and concept of Stoicism primarily coined by Zeno in theory. Read by important figures in society such as Nassim Taleb and Tim Ferris, the writings of Seneca compiled into the books that express his ideas are still very influential even today.

A little bit about the book/essay

This essay is Seneca's take on living and how to live a full and prosperous life in society. It was written in 49 AD, which is astounding because the book is still celebrated even today in the 21st century. It truly proves that his principles still apply as the ‘secret sauce for life’. It is also worrying because we can question whether or not as a humanity we have developed to the point of living a happy prosperous life.

Something that stood out for me was that there is a huge emphasis on the importance of being present in the book. This is a term that is thrown around too much nowadays, but for good reason… because as Seneca states: “busyness is a decision".

People believe that life is short, however, it is, in fact, the complete opposite. Life doesn’t have to be short. It will be short if you stay in a busy frame of mind. It just has to be invested well, and not spent chasing material things which don’t matter once life is over for us. It can be argued that time is the most scarce of resources, yet we waste a lot of it being preoccupied. This is expressed by Seneca:

"the living is the least important activity of the preoccupied man, yet there is nothing which is harder to learn…"

I love this statement because it really emphasizes the fact that although life is there to be lived, as a majority, we are all so caught up in being preoccupied and being busy that we reach our deathbed and contemplate where all the time went.

It is remarkable how modern this book feels. Almost as though it was written yesterday and I would recommend anyone to read it, because it truly highlights the importance of pondering whether or not you are truly living.

Have a great weekend!

Adam x