Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (September 27, 2020)

Hello there, 

For this week’s exercise, I will look for inspiration from the Moral Letters of Seneca to Lucillius CVIII 27-27:

“Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside out many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must seize what flees.””  

Pretty deep stuff for a letter between friends. But then again, this is why the Moral Letters of Seneca are so popular. They summarize a lot of the best points from his great body of work (which I highly recommend to any Prokopton looking for prokopê…or in english, anyone who is studying Stoicism to improve themselves.)

Although scientifically and mathematically we have proven spacetime to be a fabric and exist in its entirety already (yes…your future is already in the past of someone that exists today or existed before you), from our perspective space remains “spatial” and time marches on in one direction. This relentless march goes on until our perspective ceases to exist (i.e. we die). This perception of time is an illusion of our consciousness, but all this fancy science does not change the simple fact that, as far as we can tell, we grow old and then we die. And there is nothing we can do to change that (yet).

Time is our most precious resource, so don’t waste it. Make the most of it. And making the most of it does not mean eat the most whatever you love, and do the most whatever is fun. Make the most of it means this: What will make you happy and truly proud when you’re on your deathbed looking back at your life? Whatever that is, do more of that. Much more of it. 

So as a practical exercise this week, try a eulogy exercise. If you are unfamiliar with this, basically you imagine your future funeral and write your own eulogy. Or, you can try and imagine being on your own death bed (as aforementioned) and list out the things that your future dying self would be proud of, or would wish to have done more of. Whatever exercise you do and however you identify what is truly important to you, do more of that.

If you feel like it, share what you identified. This may help inspire others as well. You can start of join the conversation on Twitter, Reddit or Patreon.

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)