Required Reading: Letter 1: On Saving Time
In Seneca’s first letter to Lucilius, he cautions the slightly younger about the importance of saving his time. He states, “Time is the one loan which a grateful recipient cannot repay.” And how so true is that statement! Every second, minute, hour, day, month, year, is given to us freely by nature; yet, we cannot reciprocate even if we wanted to.
There is no way under heaven, that a man, woman, child, or thing, can ever reverse the means of this phenomenon and return the favor; we stand as only; and always the recipients. Hence, it is to this end that Seneca speaks unreservedly to Lucilius; starting off his series of letters on the significance of Time!
As we think of our daily lives, what account can we give of today? Did we invest it well? Can we give an hour by hour account of how we toured our day? Did we have control over time? Were we the divisor of time or the dividend? Did someone else instruct, direct our day? Or are we of the priviledged class who have the ability to direct our time yet it slippeth by? Again, Seneca states “While we are postponing life speeds by.” Truly, it waits for no man; almost as if itself is on a journey to get somewhere and somewhere fast!
Now, can we go back in time and bring to mind memories of our infancy or our adolescent years? Perhaps, years in which we had the blessings of parents who cared for our every activity? As we got older and embarked upon our first job, can we see where our time begin to be filched from us? Were we willing partcipants who allowed it to simply escape our grasp? Were we even conscious of it?
Or were we so blessed to have someone there such as a Seneca to whisper in our ears “shhh…save your time”. Would life have been any different? Would we have allowed the many time-thieves of this scarcest of commodities to get by without being thoroughly checked at the gate?
I hope so; for Now is the Time to Save Your Time! “To hold every hour in your grasp…” Continued Seneca “…Lay hold of today’s task, and you will not need to depend so much upon tomorrow’s. For nothing …is ours, except time.”
Now, if Time and Wealth stood as choices; what would you choose? For me, the winner is clear; I would choose Time. For with it, I can create wealth. With Wealth only however, one’s Time could easily run out if they were ever “fortunate” to meet a sudden demise. And said Wealth could easily be left to strangers (family included); yep! Time’s up!
Let’s close with an activity; take a piece of paper and write down each hour from 12:00 AM to 12:00 PM; there should be 24 hour slots; write in every activity per the hour that you are clear you will be doing starting tomorrow. Do this every day for the next 21 days; leave at least 1 hour for studying this course; farewell.
Word of the day:
Filch (verb): to pilfer; steal. (The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus Second Edition).
Quotations:
“…-set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time…”
“The most disgraceful kind of loss (of time), however, is that due to carelessness.”
“What man can you show me who places any value on his time…”
“I do not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him.”
Questions:
1) How many hours do you work a day? Are you self-employed or work for someone else?
2) How many hours do you sleep a day? (Is there a reason why it’s too long/short?)
3) Could you cut back an hour on Sleep Time and add it to Study Time?
Activity:
Complete activity in the last paragraph above.
