On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It (Penguin Great Ideas)
Seneca Seneca
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On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It (Penguin Great Ideas)
Seneca Seneca
"Com uma linguagem leve, lúcida e atraente, neste texto Sêneca ensina como examinar os temas práticos da vida, sobretudo um dos mais cruciais da atualidade: o tempo. Sua atenção concentra-se na velocidade com que a vida humana passa, enfatizando o fato de que o problema não é a falta, mas sim como nosso tempo é empregado. Devemos não só reservar tempo para nós mesmos, mas sobretudo evitar toda dispersão fútil e enganosa da vida, cuidando do tempo presente e vivendo o agora. Ao mesmo tempo, o filósofo destaca a importância da prática do bem e das virtudes, bem como o papel da filosofia, que nos ensina a viver de modo correto e nos fornece os elementos para uma análise crítica do mundo."
Publication Year: 2005
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0 0Here's my problem with 'On the Shortness of Life:' Seneca gets it all wrong.
The essay is basically a Roman version of Ecclesiastes 1-12, with Seneca bemoaning our waste of lives in the transient pursuits of toil, pleasure, and/or achievement, always putting off until tomorrow the restful contemplation that, one presumes, is our highest good and greatest aim.
I'm not with him. Not one tiny bit. Toil and achievement are, instead, the very stuff of life. It is when we leave the arena that we begin to die, as argued by Frankl in 'Man's Search for Meaning,' as well as by many others in many other works. Pleasure, well, that's a delightful byproduct of life experience - while a dead end as an aim in itself. This idea that we're wasting our lives in vain pursuits like service and achievement, when we should be sitting on our backsides and gazing at our navels? Humbug.
Now, I hear you. You're saying, "But you're the kind of guy who reads Seneca. His ideas ought to be your bag, baby." I say that there's a time for reflection, a time for action, and a fundamental need to strive for something -anything- to maintain our vibrancy.
Then again, maybe it's just that I never could get into fishing.
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