Reading & the Good Life
Join the conversation! Every Friday at Noon EST, Perennial Meditations readers are welcome to gather for Reading & the Good Life (Join here), a space for connection, contemplation, and conversations on the art of living! This week begins our exploration of the writing and wisdom of Lucius Annaeus Seneca through David Fideler’s (a previous podcast guest) great book Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living.
Who is Lucius Annaeus Seneca?
As many of you know, every Sunday, we explore one of Lucius Annaeus Seneca's (4 BC to 65 AD) letters. Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and advisor to Emporer Nero. He is most known for his philosophical works, including a dozen essays and one hundred twenty-four letters. Seneca's letters are mainly to Lucilius and cover several timeless topics, from wisdom to death and everything in between. His letters, known today as Letters from a Stoic, are filled with timeless wisdom.
How Seneca Can Change Your Life
We all want to live happy lives, observed Seneca, but we are in the dark when it comes to discerning what makes life happy. Seneca believed there was nothing more talked about and less understood than the business of a happy life.
In Seneca’s On the Happy Life, he wrote,
It is every man’s wish and design; and yet not one of a thousand that knows wherein that happiness consists. We live, however, in blind and eager pursuit of it; and the more haste we make in a wrong way, the further we are from our journey’s end.
According to Seneca, many of us wander aimlessly, squandering our time. Therefore, the first task is determining where we are headed and by what path. Seneca urges us to remember that time is our most valuable resource. He stressed to Lucilius: “What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily?”
