While everybody was bustling about and hurrying to the waterfront, I felt great pleasure in my laziness, because, although I was soon to receive letters from my friends, I was in no hurry to know how my affairs were progressing abroad, or what news the letters were bringing; for some time now I have had no losses, nor gains either.
Even if I were not an old man, I could not have helped feeling pleasure at this; but as it is, my pleasure was far greater.
For, however small my possessions might be, I should still have left over more travelling money than journey to travel, especially since this journey upon which we have set out is one which need not be followed to the end. An expedition will be incomplete if one stops half-way, or anywhere on this side of one’s destination; but life is not incomplete if it is honorable.
At whatever point you leave off living, provided you leave off nobly, your life is a whole. Often, however, one must leave off bravely, and our reasons therefore need not be momentous; for neither are the reasons momentous which hold us here.
Even if I were not an old man, I could not have helped feeling pleasure at this; but as it is, my pleasure was far greater.
For, however small my possessions might be, I should still have left over more travelling money than journey to travel, especially since this journey upon which we have set out is one which need not be followed to the end. An expedition will be incomplete if one stops half-way, or anywhere on this side of one’s destination; but life is not incomplete if it is honorable.
At whatever point you leave off living, provided you leave off nobly, your life is a whole. Often, however, one must leave off bravely, and our reasons therefore need not be momentous; for neither are the reasons momentous which hold us here.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 77
What many of us call being “busy” is really just the scuffling to acquire more in the future, even as Nature has already provided us with all the material we need to build a peace of mind in the present. The school now is for the job later, the job now is for the comforts later, and we beg to be remembered after we are dead. Observe how much we borrow, both in money and in favors over the span of decades, wishing for some nebulous happy ending that seems ever out of reach.
As Pascal said, it is an odd way to make us happy, when it is the best way to make us miserable.
Seneca understood enough to not get caught up in the frenzy, and the broader perspective of old age only confirmed his sense that life is not governed by any schedule or measured by a collection of passport stamps. There is a sure relief in no longer worrying about the distractions, leaving us with the simplicity of the essential.
They will call you lazy for resigning from the rat race, but don’t forget how they have decided to define success, and why you have chosen a different path, one that ends in an honorable mindset, not at a certain location or on a specific date.
I had a friend in high school who was unable to function during the day without copies of the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He insisted that he had to read everything important that was happening in the world, as quickly as possible.
I was enamored of a girl in college who had her whole life mapped out, down to the tiniest detail of choosing birth years, names, and schools for the future children. I have no idea how deeply the plan was affected by not marrying a college professor, but she robotically followed the rest, almost to the letter.
I had a neighbor who prided himself on his extensive travels, and he looked down on anyone who had not attended the opera in Vienna, London, Milan, and New York. One day, after consuming too much wine, he confessed to me that he no longer knew who he was.
I think it no accident that all three were sadly among the most anxious and dejected people I have ever met; they were so obsessed with checking the boxes on some list that their souls had withered. There were places they had to go, and people they had to meet, and the possibility that a life could be complete under the humblest of circumstances had never occurred to them.
Will I make to ninety, or will I die tomorrow? Will I live in a townhouse on Beacon Hill or in a trailer outside Amarillo? Will there be excursions to the Riviera or a stroll to the corner store? None of it matters, as long as whatever is done, is done in the company of virtue, and whenever it ends, it ends with integrity.
Easy come and easy go. Once I have done my duty, there is no need to linger. The quality of character should not be confused with the quantity of trophies.
What many of us call being “busy” is really just the scuffling to acquire more in the future, even as Nature has already provided us with all the material we need to build a peace of mind in the present. The school now is for the job later, the job now is for the comforts later, and we beg to be remembered after we are dead. Observe how much we borrow, both in money and in favors over the span of decades, wishing for some nebulous happy ending that seems ever out of reach.
As Pascal said, it is an odd way to make us happy, when it is the best way to make us miserable.
Seneca understood enough to not get caught up in the frenzy, and the broader perspective of old age only confirmed his sense that life is not governed by any schedule or measured by a collection of passport stamps. There is a sure relief in no longer worrying about the distractions, leaving us with the simplicity of the essential.
They will call you lazy for resigning from the rat race, but don’t forget how they have decided to define success, and why you have chosen a different path, one that ends in an honorable mindset, not at a certain location or on a specific date.
I had a friend in high school who was unable to function during the day without copies of the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He insisted that he had to read everything important that was happening in the world, as quickly as possible.
I was enamored of a girl in college who had her whole life mapped out, down to the tiniest detail of choosing birth years, names, and schools for the future children. I have no idea how deeply the plan was affected by not marrying a college professor, but she robotically followed the rest, almost to the letter.
I had a neighbor who prided himself on his extensive travels, and he looked down on anyone who had not attended the opera in Vienna, London, Milan, and New York. One day, after consuming too much wine, he confessed to me that he no longer knew who he was.
I think it no accident that all three were sadly among the most anxious and dejected people I have ever met; they were so obsessed with checking the boxes on some list that their souls had withered. There were places they had to go, and people they had to meet, and the possibility that a life could be complete under the humblest of circumstances had never occurred to them.
Will I make to ninety, or will I die tomorrow? Will I live in a townhouse on Beacon Hill or in a trailer outside Amarillo? Will there be excursions to the Riviera or a stroll to the corner store? None of it matters, as long as whatever is done, is done in the company of virtue, and whenever it ends, it ends with integrity.
Easy come and easy go. Once I have done my duty, there is no need to linger. The quality of character should not be confused with the quantity of trophies.
—Reflection written in 11/2013
IMAGE: Joos de Momper the Younger, The Journey of Tobias (c. 1620)
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