Slow Living with Seneca

Practical advice on living with intention

Photo by Alex Sawyer on Unsplash

Today we’re looking at a cultural trend that aligns well with Stoicism: Slow Living. Like minimalism, slow living is basically a trendy name for a lifestyle that used to be the norm for the vast majority of humans. In today’s world many people feel constantly frazzled, frustrated, and anxious by the constant comparison to others and the overwhelming demands on our time from work, family, and social obligations. The cultural default is to get sucked into the maelstrom of nonstop activities and accomplishments, leading to an ever-expanding resumé but an ever-shrinking reserve of time to relax, reflect, and connect with others—in other words, to reinvigorate your sense of purpose, wellbeing, and living a good life.

So what are we going to do about this? Into the breach comes the new-old concept of Slow Living, which Sloww blogger Kyle Kowalski describes as “a life philosophy, a state of mind and being, a reflective approach, and methodical process to daily life.” Kowalski offers these as the main themes of Slow Living (check out his webpage Slow Living 101, where you can learn more about these themes and find a great introduction to the movement):

Slow living is purposeful and fulfilling

Slow living is nourishing, savoring the minutes instead of counting them

Slow living is holistic, timeless, and based on ancient wisdom and spirituality

Slow living is about pacing, being steady and consistent

Slow living is taking a long-term view of your own life and the world around you

Slow living is about well-being and doing everything as well as possible instead of as fast as possible

Slow living is conscious, intentional, mindful, and living deeply

Slow living is an organic and natural way of living

Slow living is balance, ease, sanity, and low stress

Slow living is connection with yourself, those around you, and the world

Slow living is countercultural because it goes against the norm that “faster is better”

Slow living doesn’t treat everything in life as disposable

Slow living is fighting back against the current state of busyness and “time poverty”

As Kowalski and other adherents of the movement clarify, Slow Living is not necessarily about the speed at which you do things (you can still get things done quickly), but rather about the choices you make with your time and the focus you bring to what you do. It’s closely related to minimalism (living with less stuff), sustainability (living in a way that minimizes your negative environmental impact), and the slow food movement (eating minimally processed, locally grown foods). The goal is to be very intentional about your lifestyle and consumption habits, only consuming or participating in those things that bring fulfillment and align with your core values. As Carl Honoré explains in his book In Praise of Slowness,

Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change. They are shorthand for ways of being, or philosophies of life. Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient, active, quantity-over-quality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity. It is about making real and meaningful connections—with people, culture, work, food, everything. The paradox is that Slow does not always mean slow. As we shall see, performing a task in a Slow manner often yields faster results. It is also possible to do things quickly while maintaining a Slow frame of mind. (p. 15)

From this description you can see that Slow Living is kind of a modern version of “living in agreement with nature,” which is the central tenet of Stoicism. If I had to describe a Stoic lifestyle to someone who didn’t know anything about philosophy, it might sound very similar to the description of Slow above. And do you know who strongly advocated this lifestyle, way before it was trendy? Seneca. Here’s a smattering of Seneca’s thoughts on exactly this topic:

There is reason to criticize both those who are always on the move and those who are always at rest. Liking to be in the fray does not mean that one is hardworking; it is only the hustle and bustle of an agitated mind.

Letters on Ethics, 3.5

So pull back from empty things. When you want to know what it is that you are pursuing, whether it involves a natural desire or a blind one, consider whether there is any place where your desire can come to rest. If it goes far and yet always has further to go, you can be sure it is not natural.

Letters on Ethics, 16.9

Get rid of everything that stands in your way; make time for excellence of mind. No one gets there while occupied with business.

Letters on Ethics, 53.9

I have plenty of time, and so has everyone who wants it. No one is pursued by business. It's people themselves who go after it and regard being busy as proof that they are well off.

Letters on Ethics, 106.1

Clearly, pushing back against hustle culture is not a new idea. In Seneca’s time, as in ours, people wanted to feel very important by feeling very busy, and some people mistakenly equated busyness with worth and influence. I do think, however, that this topic has a particular urgency in the 21^st century because this mindset does not just afflict a small subset of upper-crust administrators but a large segment of the population. From the time we begin school we are encouraged to busily prepare for the future, for material acquisition, for conspicuous consumption, for the productivity that keeps the economy humming and valorizes the trap of hedonistic striving.

There’s also the issue that well-paid jobs tend to require onerous and ongoing investments of our time. It’s quite difficult to find a high-quality professional position that allows for part-time hours; for the most part, it’s 55-hour weeks or nothing. If we want a decently remunerated job and a fulfilling private life, it can seem like we have no choice but go into commitment overload.

While there are obviously no easy answers to these vexing issues, I have found it very helpful to frame a solution in terms of slow living. It’s always nice to feel like you’re not alone and that other people have noticed the same problem and are trying to fix it. So I’m happy to blend some of the tenets of the slow living movement with classic Stoic principles, like Seneca’s advice to “pull back from empty things” and live each moment with intention.

Below, I’ve divided Seneca’s suggestions into two parts: theory and practical advice. In general Seneca’s writings are very practical, but I wanted to start out with a bit of theoretical foundation to explain how Slow Living fits into Stoicism. Based on passages from Seneca, here are my suggestions for three ways slow living can fit well with Stoicism.

Slow Living with Seneca: Theory

Living in agreement with nature

I do something that is common to all Stoics: I agree with the nature of the world. Not to deviate from nature, but to be formed according to its law and example—that is wisdom.

On the Happy Life, 2.3

It can be difficult to understand what the Stoics meant by living in agreement with nature, and even in antiquity there were multiple definitions of this key concept. Here’s one way to think of it: staying close to human and cosmic nature, hewing to those basic things that make for a good life. This way of life prioritizes excellence of mind and character, not taking more resources than you need, respecting yourself and those around you, and caring for the earth and everything on it.

With respect to Slow Living, we can say that Seneca advocated a moderate lifestyle that does not go overboard with either acquiring things or doing things. Of course, in both areas he can be criticized for not practicing what he preached, since he lived a life of opulence and at one point was essentially running the Roman empire. While I do think Seneca can be seen as a bit hypocritical at times, we could also flip the script and see him as someone who actually had experienced being at the pinnacle of wealth and power, and found that both do not make for a good life. Maybe we should believe him when he basically says take it from me—I’ve been there, and these things really do not make you happy.

In any case, living in agreement with nature is a good guideline when deciding how to live a modern life. We have such an abundance of stuff and distractions, we definitely need to pare down many of life’s superfluities. I always try to think back to the way humans lived 2,000 or 10,000 years ago and ask myself if what I’m doing would have made sense for those earlier humans. The basics—spending time with loved ones, exercising our bodies, practicing creative endeavors, contributing to our community, enjoying nature—are things that are appropriate and add value to life. Everything else can be eliminated.

It’s all about values

There is only one course of action that can make you happy. I beg you, dearest Lucilius, to do it: cast aside those things that glitter on the outside, those things that are promised you by another or from another, and trample them underfoot. Look to your real good, and rejoice in what is yours. What is it that is yours? Yourself; the best part of you.

Letters on Ethics, 23.6

Seneca was insistent that all the false goods chased by the Roman elite—gourmet foods, luxury villas, sexual conquests, positions of power—were fool’s gold. They might glitter on the outside, but underneath they were worthless. The people who valued these things and spent their lives chasing them always ended up miserable.

Instead, in his Letters on Ethics he encouraged his friend Lucilius to pursue inner wisdom through a peaceful life of philosophical study, reflection, and moderate living. By valuing virtue and eliminating all those distractions that led away from virtue, Lucilius could live a slow life of real, long-lasting happiness.

Think for yourself

We need to counteract all these examples that crowd into our eyes and ears, and empty the load of harmful speech from our hearts. Virtue must be brought into the place that such talk has occupied, to root out the lies and false ideas, to set us apart from the populace that we too readily trust, and to bring us back to sound opinions. This, in fact, is wisdom: returning to nature and being restored to the condition from which the general errors have banished us.

Letters on Ethics, 94.68

The ancient Stoics, like many philosophers, were very critical of society at large, which they saw as transmitting false truths and incorrect values. Seneca warns that even our parents and teachers, who love us and mean well, may unwittingly lead us astray by teaching us to love money, conformity, status, and pleasure.

It is therefore imperative to strip out these fraudulent values and, through the guidance of philosophy, return to living in agreement with virtue. We should replace the unwise teachings of popular culture by identifying for ourselves those values that lead us back to a natural and happy life.

Slow Living with Seneca: Practical Tips

Now that we’re clear about how Slow Living fits with Stoicism, let’s look at some practical ways of implementing it into our lives—again, courtesy of Seneca.

Start now and be intentional

Embrace every hour. If you lay hands on today, you will find you are less dependent on tomorrow. While you delay, life speeds by.

Letters on Ethics, 1.2

Get out of autopilot and do a values clarification and time audit, making sure you spend most of your time on those things that bring meaning, fulfillment, and true satisfaction.

Choose worthwhile activities

We should sometimes relax our minds and refresh them with some amusement. Still, even one's amusements should be worthwhile endeavors: if you put your mind to them, you will derive something potentially beneficial.

Letters on Ethics, 58.25

It can seem like free time is exactly that—free!—but Seneca reminds us that our leisure hours are still an important part of our lives. Ideally, if we work toward Slow Living, we will choose fewer but higher-quality obligations. Instead of being so tired when we get home that we just crash on the couch and binge-watch TV all weekend, we pace ourselves with our daily activities and so that we have energy for pursuits that support our long-term wellbeing (like getting out into nature). I know it’s easier said than done. But everyone can probably find at least one activity to cancel from their calendar and one Slow activity to add in at least once a month. Should we turn this into a catchy formula? Let’s try it:

Eliminate one soulless activity

Add one soulful activity

At least once a month

One, one, once. That’s doable, right?

Lend yourself (don’t give yourself) to your pursuits

They're lying, those people who want it to look as if the pressures of their jobs prevent them from engaging in liberal studies. It is all pretense, for they themselves keep adding to their activities—if they are busy, it is their own fault. I have time, Lucilius, I do have time; and wherever I am, I am my own person. I do not give myself over to activities; I only lend myself, and I don't go looking for reasons to waste my time. When I come to a halt, no matter where I am, I sift through my thoughts and find some salutary reflection.

Letters on Ethics, 62.1

I really love this advice: instead of letting activities control you, make sure control your activities. There may be certain things that we have no influence over, but we also get caught up in many optional activities (especially everything we do online) that we have the power to change. Remember you’re in charge of your time, and think about how you can “lend” yourself to activities rather than selling yourself to them. You are in charge of your activities, not the other way around.

Don’t waste time pursuing life’s equipment

Well, then! Will you not redirect your efforts? Show us that much time is wasted pursuing what is superfluous, that many people miss out on life by going after life's equipment. Observe individuals, and study people in general, and you will find every one of us living for tomorrow. "Is there any harm in that?" you say. Yes, endless harm. They are not living; they are only about to live. Everything is deferred. Even if we were paying attention, life would slip by us; as it is, we put off living, and our lives race past us as if they belonged to someone else—ending on the last day, yet lost to us every day.

Letters on Ethics, 45.12-13

Once we start thinking about external things as life’s equipment rather than as goals unto themselves, we can really start to clarify what’s worth pursuing. You might think about the equipment used to play a sport, like hockey: the equipment is what enables you to play the game, but it’s not the game itself. If you spent the whole hockey game putting on your gear or pursuing better gear, you would end up missing the whole game.

Likewise, life is not about the things we wear or the house we live in. It’s about the activities and relationships we pursue while wearing those clothes or living in that house. In eras of material abundance, like our own, it is so easy to get distracted by those shiny things, but they are still just equipment, not the game itself.

That means we don’t need to spend our precious time chasing after things. We can dedicate our time to the true task of living well, such as (to borrow a phrase from Kyle Kowalski above) “savoring the minutes instead of counting them.”

Gaze away from human affairs every once in a while

Are you always preoccupied, taking no time for yourself in which to turn your gaze from human affairs to things divine? To strive after wealth without any love of the virtues, and without cultivating the intellect, and to be engrossed in bare work, are by no means commendable (these must be combined with each other and connected). Just so, virtue that is wasted on leisure without action, never presenting what it has learned for inspection, is an incomplete and idle good.

On Leisure, 6.1-2

Human affairs are important, but they are not the only important thing in the universe, and certainly not the most important thing. Turning our gaze away from people for a while and thinking about the natural world—majestic redwoods standing for hundreds of years, intelligent octopuses exploring the deep sea, stars being born in the Orion Nebula—helps us keep ourselves in perspective and opens our minds to wonder and beauty. Few things help keep us more grounded and balanced than making time to contemplate the splendors of the nonhuman world.

How I Apply Slow Living in My Life

I’m certainly not a role model of slow living—I’m wrapped up in the whirlwind of obligations known as parenting—but I have taken steps to eliminate as much as possible from my life that doesn’t add value. I created a list of all the categories my activities fall into; this helps me make sure everything I do falls into one of these buckets, ensuring that my activities align with my values and contribute to a meaningful and well-lived life. Here’s my list:

• Family

• Philosophy

• Physical and psychological health

• Home

• Community and cosmopolitanism

• Nature

• Arts and entertainment

Whenever I sit down and make a list of everything I’ve done that week, I can usually slot them into one of these categories. This process not only helps me to be conscious and intentional about how I use my time, but it also helps me see the value in those mundane parts of life that are not necessarily enjoyable—cleaning the house, taking the kids to soccer practice, or spending half an hour on the treadmill. These are all parts of a life well-lived, and they contribute to the larger goals that I find meaningful.

To me, this is one of the most important pieces of Slow Living: doing things that are valuable for your life as you live it, not the life other people are living, not the life you might have lived had things been different, not the life advertisers want you to live. Much of Slow Living is not praised, remunerated, or even recognized; you just do it because it contributes to being a good person in a good world. In this way, it is truly countercultural, and requires deep commitment and a willingness to think for yourself and do things on your own terms. I think it’s appropriate to give the last word here to Seneca (Letters on Ethics, 93.5):

So we should praise and congratulate the person whose life has been well invested, no matter how short that time has been. He has seen the true light, has not been just one of the crowd, has lived and has thrived.

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