V. The Men Who Looked Like They Were Resting

Seneca turns his attention from the obviously busy to the people who only appear to be at rest.

When I talk about people who waste their lives, do not assume I only mean the obviously busy ones. The politicians and merchants and lawyers at least have the excuse that they are trying to accomplish something.

The ones who should worry you more are the ones who appear to be at leisure but are not.

The collector who spends every day rearranging his bronze statues, fussing over which piece goes where, who lives entirely inside his own obsession with things. Is he at rest? He is not. He is just busy about something useless.

The man who spends hours at the barber having hairs plucked out one by one, who holds councils over each strand, who flies into a rage if a single lock falls wrong. Is he at rest?

The people who devote their lives to studying completely useless questions. Which general was the first to do this or that thing? Who first drove elephants in a triumph? These are the questions they fill their days with, memorizing facts that change nothing and improve no one.

This kind of thing is a disease of the mind. It is especially common among educated people, which makes it worse. They have access to genuine wisdom and they choose to spend their time on trivia. They have the tools to build a real life and they use them to make furniture for a dollhouse.

Leisure is only real leisure when it is used for something that feeds the mind and the soul. Everything else is just a different flavor of busyness.