Seneca, Epistles 101.8

ID: D3082288-F22C-4C57-AF27-9FB76613911E
TRANSLATOR: Long
CATEGORY: [[id:3B91B13C-0961-49E0-AF8F-0786A3170346][Valuation]]
AUTHOR: Seneca
TEXT: Epistles

The biggest problem with our lives is that they are always unfinished, that some part of them is always being postponed. By putting the final touch on one's life every day, you don't lack time. It is this lack that generates fear and gnawing desire for the future. Nothing is more wretched than worrying about how things are going to turn out. We are constantly in the grip of panic as to how much is left or what the future holds.

How shall we escape this turmoil? There is only one way - by not allowing our life to look to the future but gathering it into itself. People hang on the future because they are frustrated by the present. […] If one is firm in one's attitude to uncertainty, why should one be disturbed by the fluctuation and instability of fortune?