Seneca on Time: Practical Lessons for Freemasons
You know the feeling. Another week gone, and you find yourself wondering where the days went. Nearly two thousand years ago, Seneca opened his very first letter to his friend Lucilius with exactly this question: how are you using the time you have? For Freemasons, this question strikes at the heart of the Craft. What does it truly mean to work on yourself if you never consciously invest the time to do so? Seneca’s Core Message In his first letter to Lucilius, Seneca wastes no time getting to the point. He asks his friend to give an account of his time the way a good steward accounts for his resources. Time, Seneca argues, is the only thing that truly belongs to us. Money can be lost and earned back. Possessions come and go. But every minute that passes is gone forever. And yet, we treat time as though it were infinite while clinging desperately to material things that can be replaced. Seneca invites Lucilius to close each day with a simple question: how much of this day did I actually live? Not how many hours was I busy — but how many moments contributed to my growth as a human […]