Before telephones, before email, before the constant and instant forms of communication we all take for granted, mail was the lifeline of the world. When a mail ship would pull into port in Seneca’s time, anxious and eager citizens would rush to the shore so that they could tear open the letters that brought news and money and the answers to the questions they had sent.
Seneca writes with bemusement of this impulse, writing to Lucilius about how he liked to sit up above the port and watch as people sped with such frantic energy to get information (that was already days or weeks late) just a few minutes earlier. “I felt great pleasure in my laziness, because, although I was soon to receive letters from my friends,” he wrote, “I was in no hurry to know how my affairs were progressing abroad, or what news the letters were bringing; for some time now I have had no losses, nor gains either. Even if I were not an old man, I could not have helped feeling pleasure at this; but as it is, my pleasure was far greater.”
It’s remarkable how well this insight stands up some two thousand years later. And how much we are still like those people. Talk to someone today about why they sleep with their phone next to the bed, and they’ll tell you, well, I don’t want to miss a call. But can’t you hear it from the next room also? And wouldn’t it be better not to be tempted to check your email in the middle of the night? Well I….Well I….Well I…
In Stillness is the Key, there is a story about Napoleon’s habit of actively delaying the opening of his mail. Why would he do such a thing? Because most issues resolved themselves and he wanted to let time sort things out for him. We would do well to emulate him and Seneca. There’s no need to rush. We don’t need to be so reachable—in fact, humans survived for hundreds of thousands of years without DMs, and texts, and Slack Channels. You’ll be fine. Slow down. Let it come to you.
Enjoy this moment. Enjoy the stillness. Life is too short to rush through it.
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