More than 2000 years ago, Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace),
a Latin poet, found himself looking rather bemused when he noticed how busy
Rome had gotten. His advice was the following: “be smart, drink wine. Scale
back your long hopes to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time is
running away from us. Take hold of the day, for in the future you can believe
in the minimum.”
Life is short, time is fleeting; enjoy now, seize the day.
Carpe diem became a widely used theme in the 16th and 17th
century in love poetry: A well-known example is Robert Herrick’s poem “To the
Virgins, to Make Much of Time”, because “this same flower that smiles
today/Tomorrow will be dying.”
In 2006, Tokio Hotel, a German band, wrote a song titled
“Live The Second”. The refrain is stuck in my head: “Live the second/Here and
now/Hold it tight/Or else it’s gone”. Although the quality of the lyrics
certainly does not meet Horace’s standards, the message has some resemblance:
“Sorry but I was just contemplating/But for that there’s really no time/No
time.” We are too busy…
Carpe diem is no longer seize the day, but seize it at its
fullest, every second. It should not be that surprising that Carpe Diem has
become a marketing brand, covering an assortment of high-energy drinks. On its
website, the company explains the philosophy behind the name and the products:
“seize the day because today is the first day of the rest of your life.”
From this perspective, whatever carpe diem has gained in
intensity, it seems to have reduced its meaningfulness. It has become linked
with narcissism (an excessive interest in oneself) and hedonism, the latter
putting pleasure as the highest good and proper aim of human life. This is the
world as personified by Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy. But this is my
dad’s generation; would people like Paris Hilton and similar “professional
party celebrities” qualify?
Fortunately there is an alternative. Although “carpe diem”
is commonly translated as “seize the day”, the verb “carpere” literally means
“to pick” or “to pluck”. A farmer or gardener picks a fruit or vegetable, he or
she knowing when it is ripe. “Plucking” or “picking the day” sounds as awkward
as “seizing an apple” but the comparison is relevant because it opens a deeper
meaning of carpe diem. “Seizing an apple” means simply taking it, nothing more
nothing less; “picking” implies a decision process (choice) which includes some
thinking before (knowledge) and accepting the consequences afterwards.
There is nothing wrong to refer to “seize the day” as long
as it has a deeper meaning to it. This is precisely the case in the hit movie
“Dead Poets Society”, a film that explores the substantive idea of carpe diem
from the viewpoint of a classroom of young men at an all boys boarding school.
“Carpe Diem! Seize the day, boys! Make your lives extraordinary!” says Robin
Williams; character, Professor Keating, in the hope that students will learn to
do what they want to do.
Carpe diem really comes down to grabbing opportunities that
life throws at you, so allowing one to become a better person. However, I don’t
think there is anything wrong, after a tough school year, in enjoying life “the
Paris Hilton way” for a week or two, as long as it does not turn into a
permanent way of life!
Now that you have read until the end, stop wasting time ;)