On the Shortness of Life (Great Ideas) (udgave 2005)

There's two books I wish I read when I was pre-pubescent. This and "What is Man". I sent the latter to my god-son and have a copy of both for myself. EVERYONE... yes EVERYONE should read this absolute gem. It is a short read in old english broken into 1-4 page chapters and sets principles I wish I framed all my life choices around. Whether you are a sincerely active religious person or someone contemplative, someone makink career and life choices, if you have not read this, you may not have all the puzzle pieces. Topics include pursuit of romance, wealth, fame, ... and puts them in a perspective that is highly challenging. I'm not mentioning the specifics because it's worth catching them in context. Short but worth many times over the purchase price. Get a copy in the hands of all your children,grandchildre, neices and nephews. ( )

The edition that I possess has three sections.
The first is called “On the Shortness of Life”. The second is “Consolation to Helvia”, and the third is “On Tranquility of Mind”.
Seneca followed a different structure for each.
“On the Shortness of Life” is an essay. This contains gems of wisdom. It is a strange commentary on human nature that we are still repeating what he said about 2,000 years ago. For instance, he writes, “So it is inevitable that life will be not just very short but very miserable for those who acquire by great toil what they must great by greater toil.”
This was true then. It is true today.
“Consolation to Helvia” seems to be a letter addressed to his mother, in which he tries to allay her fears about him. He has tried to console her in this letter, and then has moved on to describing some of his own philosophy. He is a Stoic, and repeatedly acknowledges his debt to Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school. Again, while speaking of his lifestyle and philosophy, he leaves us with much food for thought.
For instance, he wrote, “We do not need to scour every ocean, or to load our bellies with the slaughter of animals, or to pluck shellfish from the unknown shores of the furthest sea.”
Our lifestyle today, is unsustainable. We are, as human beings, creating the sixth extinction. Seneca warned us almost 2,000 years ago.
The third section starts almost as a dialogue. Rather, Serenus, a friend of Seneca, has come to Seneca with a problem. His mind is not quiet. He seeks tranquility. Seneca again launched into his essay. He quoted Lucretius at one point, “Thus each man ever flees himself.” Then, he goes on to write, “But, to what end, if he does not escape himself”
He also writes, “He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man.”
There is deep philosophy in sentences like this.
The book is short. The writing clear. Not a word is wasted.
This is a book for the keeping. Learn the lessons and apply them. This is when you will discover the gems of wisdom in this book. ( )

I think this review is really gonna say something unique and insightful about Seneca. Let me gather my thoughts real quick.

Nevermind. For people with problems like mine, the book speaks directly to them. I have a couple successful friends, though, who think stoicism is a yeah-duh philosophy. Fuck you people, not everyone's at put together as you are! I kid, I kid.

The first few chapters are so densely quotable with takeaways ("such things are more impressive in their fulfillment than in their promise"), that it got pointless to take notes after a while, since ultimately I just need to reread the first few chapters every once in a while to keep it all fresh. The middle lags a bit, and the end picks right back up.

What hits home is not the volume of "good quotes" and takeaways, those things are easy to parrot off and accomplish little. But the lens through which Seneca views problems is what I found most valuable, and what I'd actually want to revisit and implement in my own life. For analytical skeptics, such an unscientific interest is pretty unusual, (phrases like the early 2000's "paradigm shift" raise the bullshit detector) but every once in a while that bullshit detector actually acts as a firewall, letting some things in while keeping out the rest. Astrology, Tony Robbins, they can stand at the door. Seneca can, and must, come on in. ( )

L’assunto di partenza del De brevitate vitae è in aperto contrasto con il sentire comune: non è affatto vero che la vita è troppo breve; anzi, essa è fin troppo lunga se sappiamo utilizzare bene il tempo a nostra disposizione. Il torto di chi si lascia trascinare nel vortice delle occupazioni, è pensare che si debba vivere in funzione degli altri, del futuro, di tutta una serie di vane attività, senza tener conto di quel termine improrogabile che è la morte. La vita vera, invece, dovrebbe essere dedicata allo studio, alla filosofia e alla pratica della sapienza. Solo un’esistenza condotta sull’esempio dei grandi pensatori del mondo antico, sorda ai fervori della politica, alle ostentazioni, ai vincoli sociali, può regalare pace e serenità e, a suo modo, l’immortalità.

This short, classical book comprises three letters/essays ('On the Shortness of Life', 'Consolation to Helvia' and 'On Tranquillity of Mind'), all of which are good even if only the first is essential. Seneca expands upon the reality of life, how to bear its trials, and how to use one's limited time wisely, all in a lucid rhetorical style. There is plenty to accept and plenty to dispute, and in assessing stoicism as a philosophy there is always the problem of "the difference between living simply and living carelessly" (pg. 103). Particularly in the modern world, when systems are more easily bent to those people who have the advantage and more overpowering of those who are not, how much of what is laid upon you is to be accepted, and how much is to be challenged? It is an interesting question, and Seneca's thoughts upon this eternal human angst inform even in modern times. ( )