The Daily Stoic - Stop Wasting Time on Trivialities

Episode Date: May 31, 2019

In his twenty-third letter to Lucilius, Seneca opens with some meta snark that is relatable to anyone who has ever been trapped in a banal conversation at a boring cocktail party. “You were probably thinking I was going to open this letter with idle chit chat about the weather,” Seneca begins, “but I’m not, because who has the time?”Certainly not Seneca, who spends the rest of the letter talking about the joy that comes from the study of philosophy and the earnest pursuit of the art of living. Important ideas. None of these trivialities—the weather, ‘what have you been up to lately?,’ ‘how’s your mother?,’ ‘reading anything good?’—that he says are the refuge of people who are “at a loss for topics of conversation.”Topics like philosophy, life, love, death, virtue, fate and fortune. Real stuff.Life is short. You see and speak to your friends rarely enough as it is. New connections, as they happen these days, are rarer still. Let us not fritter that time and opportunity away on banalities. Let us push through the nerves of newness, through the superficialities of introduction or reacquaintance, to greater understanding and deeper connection.The weather. Your mom and dad. Traffic. These are trivialities of conversation designed to create quick, easy connection. To show us that we have something in common despite being strangers or not having seen each other in some time. But we are already connected. We already know these things before we say a word to each other. We are sharing the same space, so we have experienced the same weather. We are humans, so we all have mothers and fathers. We each got to this cocktail party from somewhere else, so we know what it took to get here.These little factoids are what put the trivia in trivialities. They are information, they are not knowledge or insight or wisdom. They are not fake, per se, but they are fruitless. They lack the abundance of the kind of real conversations Seneca had with Lucilius and countless others in his life.So get real. Speak the truth. Ask the uncomfortable questions. Share. You’ll be glad you did.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystowac.com. Stop wasting time on trivialities. In his 23rd letter to Lucilius, Senica opens with some snark that is relatable to anyone who has ever spent time at a boring cocktail party, or of course is old enough to remember writing and receiving actual letters.

Basically, Senika says, you are probably thinking I was going to open this letter with idle chitchat about the weather, but I'm not, because who has the time. In fact, he says these trivialities, the weather, what have you been up to lately? How's your mother reading anything good? That they are the refuge of people who are at a loss for topics of conversation. Thankfully, that is not Senaqa,

and neither should it be you. As it happens, the rest of the letter is about the joy that comes from the study of philosophy and the earnest pursuit of the art of living. Important stuff, but that seemingly inconsequential line at the top is worth thinking about too. Life is short. You see and speak to your friends rarely enough as it is. Human contact as it happens these days is rare enough as well.

Let us not fritter that time and opportunity away because we are too nervous to get to the point. Let us not let superficialities block us from exploring the depths below. Get real, speak the truth, ask the uncomfortable questions, share, you'll be glad you did. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. Hey, prime members. You can listen to the daily Stoic early and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.