On The Shortness of Life by Seneca
The Shortness of Life is a book by Seneca which talks about the stoic philosophy of Seneca, regarding life, mortality and the importance of living. He asserts that life is long if only one knows how to use it, but regardless, we all fear death. The author encourages the readers to enjoy life and take their troubles lightly while enjoying the pleasures, delights, and relaxations. The author’s main points revolve around how much people do not appreciate the life they are supposed to be living and instead waste it, therefore, there is need to maximize the time we have in abundance and make great achievements. According to him, during a person’s lifetime, time is the greatest resource, which people fail to value hence becoming failures. Therefore, he advocates that people should spend each day as if it was their last day, and does not fear or long for the next day.
Seneca believes that the life we are given is not short, but we make it short by wasting it. She likens our lives to wealth which falls to a bad owner, who squanders it in a moment. On the other hand, if wealth falls into the hands of a responsible custodian, it then increases its use. Therefore, our lives are like wealth, if properly managed, it extends amply. Seneca takes note that people generously share their time, when they ought to be stingy with it, while on the other hand, refuse to share money, as easily as they would share their time. People are wasteful on their time, but would fiercely guard their personal property.
He asserts that people live as if they will live forever and they do not realize how much time they squander before they come into terms with the fact that a lot of time has passed, and it was sufficient and overflowing with supply. The author does not equate being on earth for many years as living but only existing. He insights our thoughts by asserting that if the readers would tally the past years, and the years ahead. One would utilize their years, as they would see how much only a few years exist for one to live. Life glides quietly and does not remind anyone of how much time has passed. Time just runs on; it does not pause or wait for a person. So the author asks one what outcome do they have when the time of death comes. One is pre-occupied with the haste of life, and eventually, when death comes they have to just have to submit themselves without any options. According to Seneca, putting things off is the biggest waste in life, which denies us the present with future promises. Therefore, people should live in the present because the future has a lot of uncertainties.
The book by Seneca is a definite call to procrastination written over 2000 years ago. He tries to show us in many ways, how death can occur at any time, hence the need to live to our fullest. Seneca however, does not recognize other factors of contentment and perhaps other factors which can be argued to promote the idea of living life to the fullest. I believe that many factors contribute to making one live a fulfilling life. Also, the author does not recognize the facts that sometimes how people spend their time is beyond their control, especially for leisure or other things which consume time, and does not consider time constraints; such constraints can be the money of other factors.
Conclusion
The book is a good piece of advice which is insightful and makes one question how they want to spend their time. According to the author, proper time management and worrying less are the keys to ensuring that one achieves a fulfilling.
References
Annaeus, S. L. (1996). On the Shortness of Life.
