‘On the Shortness of Life’, by Seneca.
What’s it about:
An essay on the well known phrase, ‘Life’s too short’.
What Lynn learned:
We speak of the ‘modern generation’ always being stimulated by technology and over-busy, but preoccupation is not new. Seneca was writing in c. 5BC - AD 65!!
Friendship is one of the most important delights in life - ‘What a blessing it is to have hearts that are ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety’. (p. 84)
It is more painful to accrue wealth and success than to never have obtained this in the first place - ‘plucking out hair hurts bald people just as much as those with hair’ (p. 86).
Getting drunk now and again is to be encouraged apparently (!!) - ‘Occasionally we should even come to the point of intoxication, sinking into drink but not being totally flooded by it; for it does wash away cares and stirs the mind to its depths, and heals sorrow just as it heals certain diseases’ (p. 105).
Fave quotes:
‘Living is the least important activity of the preoccupied man; yet there is nothing which is harder to learn’ (p. 10).
‘You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that’ (p. 13)
‘He pursues and dogs himself as his most tedious companion. And so we must realize that our difficulty is not the fault of places but of ourselves’ (p. 76)
Why relevant right now:
We spend so much time rushing about do we actually pause to ask ourselves, ‘What am I doing this for? How can I really live?’. This book encourages us to really consider this.
Interest factor: 3.5/5
Coffee table cred: 3/5
Ignorance of external world while reading: 3/5
Book cover design: 4/5
Help the existential crisis: 5/5
