Nevertheless, I ought to accomplish something even on days like these—days which are fully employed, and indeed from morning until night. For there is never a moment when fresh employments will not come along; we sow them, and for this reason several spring up from one.
Then, too, we keep adjourning our own cases, saying: "As soon as I am done with this, I shall settle down to hard work," or: "If I ever set this troublesome matter in order, I shall devote myself to study."
But the study of philosophy is not to be postponed until you have leisure; everything else is to be neglected in order that we may attend to philosophy, for no amount of time is long enough for it, even though our lives be prolonged from boyhood to the uttermost bounds of time allotted to man.
It makes little difference whether you leave philosophy out altogether or study it intermittently; for it does not stay as it was when you dropped it, but, because its continuity has been broken, it goes back to the position in which it was at the beginning, like things which fly apart when they are stretched taut.
Then, too, we keep adjourning our own cases, saying: "As soon as I am done with this, I shall settle down to hard work," or: "If I ever set this troublesome matter in order, I shall devote myself to study."
But the study of philosophy is not to be postponed until you have leisure; everything else is to be neglected in order that we may attend to philosophy, for no amount of time is long enough for it, even though our lives be prolonged from boyhood to the uttermost bounds of time allotted to man.
It makes little difference whether you leave philosophy out altogether or study it intermittently; for it does not stay as it was when you dropped it, but, because its continuity has been broken, it goes back to the position in which it was at the beginning, like things which fly apart when they are stretched taut.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 72
I’m afraid I quickly lose friends whenever I dare to say this, but the sad fact is that we think it makes us look important to always be busy, and most of what we consider to be critical work is entirely unnecessary. This is hardly a modern problem, because Seneca knew it just as well.
For every minute spent achieving something good, an hour is wasted to attend a meeting or to fill out the paperwork. Unless you are very fortunate, your workplace probably has a dozen folks who do nothing, while one fellow picks up the slack. I endure it at the college, I observe it at any construction site, and I dread it at the DMV.
Even when I am occupied with a routine duty, I make a point to focus on the meaning and the value of my worldly efforts, however humble or mundane they may be. Philosophy is always with me, not with the awe of profound contemplation, but with the immediate comfort of a driving purpose, a way to keep me sane during a long day.
By all means, put a roof over your head and food on the table, yet remain constantly aware of how accumulating ever more wealth and status is not an excuse for ignoring philosophy. They tell you to slave away for the whole week, and then maybe recharge for a bit on the weekend, when the best way to arouse the soul is to understand, from the get-go, why life is worth living. Philosophy will do that for you, not your paycheck.
Philosophy must be present in the proccess of the whole, not merely given occasional lip service. In the business world, they warn us not to “drop the ball”, though it is far more important not to interrupt the flow of mindfulness, for once we lose the force of conviction, it’s awfully hard to start it up again. There should always be pauses in the work of the day, though there should never be pauses in our self-awareness.
Since philosophy is actually the highest priority, providing the very measure of benefit and harm to everything else, she must be attended to right now, not tomorrow. In claiming otherwise, the busybody has already assumed certain values, even as he has obviously not arrived at them through any sound reasoning. He is flying blind.
I’m afraid I quickly lose friends whenever I dare to say this, but the sad fact is that we think it makes us look important to always be busy, and most of what we consider to be critical work is entirely unnecessary. This is hardly a modern problem, because Seneca knew it just as well.
For every minute spent achieving something good, an hour is wasted to attend a meeting or to fill out the paperwork. Unless you are very fortunate, your workplace probably has a dozen folks who do nothing, while one fellow picks up the slack. I endure it at the college, I observe it at any construction site, and I dread it at the DMV.
Even when I am occupied with a routine duty, I make a point to focus on the meaning and the value of my worldly efforts, however humble or mundane they may be. Philosophy is always with me, not with the awe of profound contemplation, but with the immediate comfort of a driving purpose, a way to keep me sane during a long day.
By all means, put a roof over your head and food on the table, yet remain constantly aware of how accumulating ever more wealth and status is not an excuse for ignoring philosophy. They tell you to slave away for the whole week, and then maybe recharge for a bit on the weekend, when the best way to arouse the soul is to understand, from the get-go, why life is worth living. Philosophy will do that for you, not your paycheck.
Philosophy must be present in the proccess of the whole, not merely given occasional lip service. In the business world, they warn us not to “drop the ball”, though it is far more important not to interrupt the flow of mindfulness, for once we lose the force of conviction, it’s awfully hard to start it up again. There should always be pauses in the work of the day, though there should never be pauses in our self-awareness.
Since philosophy is actually the highest priority, providing the very measure of benefit and harm to everything else, she must be attended to right now, not tomorrow. In claiming otherwise, the busybody has already assumed certain values, even as he has obviously not arrived at them through any sound reasoning. He is flying blind.
—Reflection written in 9/2013
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