I pick up a book up every few years and always get a good reminder about how to make life more meaningful. It gives me a lot of insight. Seneca wrote a book called ‘On The Shortness of Life.’
He gets us to examine whether life is really that short. Is fifty or a hundred years really not long enough? Or is it that we waste the time given to us, then complain that we didn’t have enough time?
I think what he’s trying to say is that we waste our lives, pursuing our projects such as gaining wealth, power, recognition and pursuing our vices. So because people don’t live skillfully, their lives are lived in vain.
But if you have a well balanced life, you’ll be healthier spiritually, mentally and physically. You won’t be abusing your gifts by being self destructive.
Also, you don’t spend all your time making money or trying to get recognition from people. There’s nothing wrong with wealth or reputation as long as you don’t make it your only priority. You shouldn’t corrupt yourself in pursuit of it. If so, you are throwing away your time and energy. Don’t fall for the vices that will lead you astray. Have dignity and self respect. Treat yourself and others well. Live authentically. Be able to look at yourself in the mirror every day.
While people guard their gold, they allow others to steal their time. A new business deal. Another drink, another woman, etc. Time ticking away on them. Even though all these things may make you feel successful and happy, they are not a great reward for your sacrifice. They depend on other people to make you happy. Just as you make gains, you eventually will have to lose.
In all the rushing around, it’s all a blur. People are so distracted by all the activity, that they are unable to focus on what really matters. In moments when they do get a bit of spare time, they may have a glimpse of what they are missing while they are in the rat race. When everything goes to pieces, they complain that life is too short. Where did time go? The guy is looking at himself in the mirror. I have white hair? When did that happen?
You’ve got old guys working themselves to death. Working with their clients right up to the moment they collapse. Their career is so important to them. Of course they dream of retiring before that happens, but they just can’t give up the status that comes with their position.
The people who want to give all their effort working hard and saving all their money for when they are 50 or 60 years old, Seneca asks: what’s the guarantee you’re going to survive? What if you waste your youth, thinking that it will pay off in the future and you don’t even live that long. Who’s to say your health will even allow you to enjoy it if you do make it to retirement?
I know someone who worked long hours, and became rich. Pinching pennies. Never took time off. She promised herself she was going to retire at 64. Two weeks to go, she had a serious stroke and was bedridden for a few years before she died.
Another man I know in his eighties, can’t stop thinking about money. Every day, early in the morning, he gets up and calls his partners to discuss how much money they made the day before. By most standards, he has enough money. But he always wants more. And he hardly spends anything on himself. What’s the point?
How do we know if people think their lives are too short? Because they want to hang onto life forever. They can’t accept when their time is up.
People who live right, do the opposite of all that. Sure they go to school and get careers, but they don’t just think about this stuff. They add value to their lives by using their time wisely on other things that are meaningful. For instance, they commit to their families. Go to their kids events to support them, have hobbies, take time to reflect on their own lives. They live life to the fullest, so they feel like they have lived a long time. They are grateful for what they’ve been handed and they don’t fear death.
But the people who live unskillfully, who don’t want to think about the meaning of life or about their own mortality or about enjoying their leisure, but pursue their career at the expense of all else, or pursue their vices; fear the end of their life because they know they threw away their lives for nothing. And on their deathbeds, they regret that their lives were too short.
Seneca says some people who don’t live right, arrange what lies beyond life. They focus on expensive funerals and tombs. They try to leave a legacy behind. But he says their funerals should be conducted by the light of torches and candles, as if they had lived but the tiniest span.
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