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Section XI. Chapter Eight: Longevity.
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Others held that the finest thing a person can seek in the abode of this world is care for long life. They said: through long life a person can reach everything he desires in matters of religion and of this world; if a person neglects it, what has he achieved?
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And scripture encouraged it, saying: 'that your days may be long on the land' (Exod. 20:12); 'that you may live many days' (Deut. 30:18).
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The causes of long life according to them: regularity of eating and drinking, moderation in intercourse, striving for peace of mind, and avoiding situations of danger and fear in matters of religion and of this world.
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These practices may strengthen the body, but they are not the causes of long life — for we find many people who follow them with short lives, and others who follow the opposite with long lives.
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And we see bodies of strong constitution collapse rapidly, while others of frail constitution endure for a long time. If it were as they say, kings would be the longest-lived of all people — given their advantage in food, medicines, comfort, and everything described.
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Beyond this, let me note what they overlooked: the longer a person lives, the more his worries, grief, and hardships multiply — as it says: 'The troubles of my heart have widened; bring me out of my distress' (Ps. 25:17).
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And his sins and transgressions accumulate, their account growing long, as if they are renewed every day — as it says: 'They have indeed risen early to corrupt all their deeds' (Zeph. 3:7).
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In childhood he is ignorant and knows nothing — as it says: 'Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child' (Prov. 22:15).
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When he moves into adolescence, he turns to waywardness — as it says: 'A child left to himself brings his mother shame' (Prov. 29:15).
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When he reaches youth, he enters into toil, hardship, and misery — as it says: 'His soul labors for him; indeed his mouth craves and drives him' (Eccl. 6:7).
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When he reaches old age, everything he had hoped for is gone and he lives only of necessity — as it says: 'Before the evil days come and the years arrive when you will say: I have no pleasure in them' (Eccl. 12:1).
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His radiance, luster, beauty, senses, and strength all fail; he becomes like a cloud that has shed its rain and remains only as dry vapor with no benefit — as it says: 'Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain' (Eccl. 12:2), and so on through that passage.
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The righteous servant loves this-worldly life only because it is a step through which he reaches and ascends to the next abode — not for its own sake. And it was made dear to a person only that he not kill himself when he falls
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— into adversity, as it says: 'And surely your blood, even of your own lives, I will require; at the hand of every living thing I will require it' (Gen. 9:5).