Perennial Meditations Perennial Leader Project

Sundays with Seneca explores Lucius Annaeus Seneca's writings and Stoic philosophy. Each week, I share a selected reading from one of Seneca's letters in search of ancient lessons on the art of living.
In a letter known today as Some Arguments in Favor of the Simple Life, Seneca wrote,
“I was shipwrecked before I got aboard.” I shall not add how that happened, lest you may reckon this also as another of the Stoic paradoxes; and yet I shall, whenever you are willing to listen, nay, even though you be unwilling, prove to you that these words are by no means untrue, nor so surprising as one at first sight would think. Meantime, the journey showed me this: how much we possess that is unnecessary; and how easily we can make up our minds to do away with things whose loss, whenever it is necessary to part with them, we do not feel. […]


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The Dying Every Day series delivers guided meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage (from an original Stoic text), and a reflection prompt to consider. These meditations are designed to help you (and me) reflect on what it means to live a good life.
Change is the Only Constant
“The river where you set your foot just now is gone—those waters giving way to this, now this.” (often translated as “No one steps in the same river twice….”)
— Heraclitus, Fragments
Selected Passage
In this week’s meditation, we explore the art of living (and dying) through a selected reading from Seneca.
Infinitely swift is the flight of time, as those see more clearly who are looking backwards. When we are intent on the present, we do not notice it; so gentle is the passage of time’s headlong flight.
Do you ask the reason for this?
All past time is in the same place; it presents the same aspect to us; it lies together. Everything slips into the same abyss. Besides, an event that is a brief compass cannot contain long intervals. The time we spend in living is but a point, nay, even less than a point. But this point of time, tiny as it is, nature has mocked by making it seem outwardly of longer duration; she has taken one portion thereof and made it infancy, another childhood, another youth, another the gradual slope, so to speak, from youth to old age, and old age itself is still another. How many steps for how short a climb!
+ Adapted from On the Shortness of Life
Reflection Exercise
Consider reflecting on how you make sense of change. In his Meditations (or notes to himself), Marcus Aurelius observed that constant change is not something to fear. Why should we look anxiously at the prospect of change and dissolution? Change is in accordance with nature: “and nothing harmful is in accordance with nature.” How would your life transform if you started to embrace (and even cherish) change?


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Welcome to Perennial Meditations, a podcast (and newsletter) by the Perennial Leader Project - an organization dedicated to providing tools for the art of living. To learn more and subscribe to our newsletter, visit perennial.substack.com.
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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

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Welcome to Perennial Meditations, a podcast (and newsletter) by the Perennial Leader Project - an organization dedicated to providing tools for the art of living. To learn more and read the transcript from this episode, visit perennial.substack.com.
For full episodes of In Search of Wisdom, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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🖇️ Stay Connected:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPods
· Instagram: https://instagram.com/PerennialPods
· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods
· Substack: https://perennial.substack.com/
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🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast:
Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archive
Listen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe
Welcome to Perennial Meditations, a podcast and newsletter by the Perennial Leader Project - an organization dedicated to providing tools for the art of living. To learn more and subscribe to our daily newsletter, visit perennial.substack.com.
--- 
🖇️ Stay Connected:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPods
· Instagram: https://instagram.com/PerennialPods
· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods
· Substack: https://perennial.substack.com/
---
🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast:
Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archive
Listen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe
Here is the latest Monday Muse with an audio meditation from the Dying Every Day series, a perennial reminder, insight, reflection, and a recommendation to consider. Be wise and be well this week!
For full episodes of In Search of Wisdom, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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· Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPods
· Instagram: https://instagram.com/PerennialPods
· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods
· Substack: https://perennial.substack.com/
---
🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast:
Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archive
Listen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe