Inhabit the present. Seneca, Epistulae 1.5.8-9

Seneca finishes his presentation of fear and hope. The power of both lies in our unique human ability to see beyond present circumstances: we look into the past and the future, forgetting the present as we recall or anticipate pain that is not actually with us. If we can learn to let the past and the future go, from time to time, adapting ourselves to the present, we might attenuate our misery. Another quasi-Buddhist thought from the Roman Stoic. You can hear me read it in Latin <here>.

Spem metus sequitur. Nec miror ista sic ire: utrumque pendentis animi est, utrumque futuri exspectatione solliciti. Maxima autem utriusque causa est quod non ad praesentia aptamur sed cogitationes in longinqua praemittimus; itaque providentia, maximum bonum condicionis humanae, in malum versa est. Ferae pericula quae vident fugiunt, cum effugere, securae sunt: nos et venturo torquemur et praeterito. Multa bona nostra nobis nocent; timoris enim tormentum memoria reducit, providentia anticipat; nemo tantum praesentibus miser est. Vale.

Fear follows hope. I am not surprised at this, whether it comes from a mind doubtful of the future, or one driven to distraction by the expectation of it. The chief cause of doubt and distraction is that we do not adapt ourselves to present circumstances, preferring to send our thoughts away on long journeys into the future instead. And thus our providence, the greatest good of the human condition, is turned to evil. Wild beasts flee dangers that they see, and when they have fled, they are safe. We are tortured by what is to come, and by what has already passed. Many of our best attributes conspire to harm us here: memory recalls the torment of terrors past, while providence flinches before what lies ahead. Nobody is wretched only in the present. Farewell.