Seneca on running from death

Dying Every Day (Day 76)

Saint Onuphrias by Jusepe de Ribera (Public domain)

💀 Dying Every Day

Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year) is a podcast by the Perennial Leader Project. Each episode turns a selected passage from Stoic philosophy into a guided meditation designed to help you (and me) learn how to live.

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Seneca on running from death

Welcome back to Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year). We’ve reached Day 76, and we’re exploring how to stop running from death.

In a letter to his friend Lucilius, Seneca wrote,

Death is on my trail, and life is fleeting away; teach me something with which to face these troubles. Bring it to pass that I shall cease trying to escape from death and that life may cease to escape from me. Give me courage to meet hardships; calm me in the face of the unavoidable. …

Seneca stresses,

The good in life does not depend upon life’s length but upon the use we make of it; also, it is possible, or rather usual, for a man who has lived long to have lived too little. Say to me when I lie down to sleep: ‘You may not wake again!’ And when I have waked: ‘You may not go to sleep again!’ Say to me when I leave my house: ‘You may not return!’ And when I return: ‘You may never go forth again!’

+Adapted from On the Shortness of Life

As practicing Stoics (and listeners of this podcast), you’ve likely heard similar ideas about mortality. And yet, we so easily forget. For example, when you woke up this morning, did you say to yourself, “I may not go to sleep again?” Did you consciously consider the notion that today could be your last?

The American nun and Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön made a similar observation (How We Live is How We Die),

Some people banish the thought of death from their minds and act as if they will live forever. … Some become obsessed with health and safety and base their lives on staving off the unavoidable for as many years as possible. It is less common for people to open themselves fully to the inevitability of their death—and any fear that may provoke it—and to live their lives accordingly.

It’s worth considering what it would mean to open oneself fully to the unavoidable, to stop running, to be where we are, and to begin cherishing the precious moments of our lives—while we still can.

Seneca explained that we are mistaken in thinking there is only a slight space between life and death on an ocean voyage (or difficult situations). The distance between life and death is just as narrow everywhere. “It is not everywhere that death shows himself so near at hand, yet everywhere,” stressed Seneca, “death is as near at hand.”

Reflection Prompt

Consider reflecting (or journaling) on what it means to stop running from death. You could ask yourself, “How can the thought of mortality help us to embrace the present moment?” and/or “What does accepting one’s fate actually look like in daily life?”

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Thank you for listening; I hope you found something useful.

Until next time, be wise and be well,

J.W.

P.S. I greatly appreciate your time, attention, and support!