All of us are wound up. We have packed schedules. We have too many emails. We have stresses and worries and problems to solve. What should we do? How should we handle this?
Well, most of us should do less, as Marcus said. Doing less is the path to tranquility. But even if we did less, life would still be tough. Our minds would still get wound up and we would still need relaxation. Not vacations, but relaxation.
One of the best forms of relaxation is cheap if not free: reading. The great William Osler (founder of John Hopkins University and a fan of the Stoics) told his medical students it was important that they turn to literature as a way to nourish and relax their minds. “When chemistry distresses your soul,” he said, “seek peace in the great pacifier, Shakespeare, ten minutes with Montaigne will lighten the burden.” Shakespeare’s plays are free online to print out. Montaigne’s essays are a couple bucks as used copies on Amazon. Both these writers have provided centuries of pleasure and wisdom to minds even more stressed than yours.
We know that Seneca and Marcus were big readers. Their works abound with quotes and allusions to plays and poets and the stories of history. They read to relax and to be at leisure. It kept their minds strong and clear. How could you not do the same? Why do you turn instead to the TV or to Twitter?
Let us follow Osler’s advice,
Start at once a bedside library and spend the last half-hour of the day in communion with the saints of humanity. There are great lessons to be learned from Job and from David, from Isaiah and St. Paul. Taught by Shakespeare you may take your intellectual and moral measure with singular precision. Learn to love Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Should you be so fortunate as to be born a Platonist, Jowett will introduce you to the great master through whom alone we can think in certain levels, and whose perpetual modernness startles and delights. Montaigne will teach you moderation in all things, and to be ‘sealed of his tribe’ is a special privilege.
Get to it!
P.S. This was originally sent on March 10, 2019. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.
