A 100-Year-Old Question for the Modern Soul
We all know the feeling: the week blurs into a hazy mix of emails, errands, and scrolling. We’re in constant motion, yet at the end of the day, it’s hard to name one moment that truly felt alive. We are executing tasks, but are we living a life?
Nearly a century ago, the economist and writer Stuart Chase formalized this quiet dread. In his essay, “Are You Living or Existing?”, he proposed a simple, brutal metric for analyzing life: a blurry line. Below it, we are merely existing. Above it, we are genuinely living.
What made his analysis so compelling was his accountant’s approach. He logged his own time, categorizing his hours with a plus (+) for life and a minus (-) for existence. The stunning result? In one recorded week, he only “lived” for about 40 hours—a mere 25% of the total time.
This 25% is the gauntlet thrown down to us today. With our 24/7 digital leash, constant notifications, and pressure to optimize, has our percentage gone up or down?
The Anatomy of a “Plus” Hour
Chase’s core observation was that living is not about passive consumption; it’s about active participation and heightened awareness.
His “plus” reactions—the moments that brought him over the line—were powerful and instructive:
| Chase’s “Living” State | The Modern Translation |
| Creating Something | Starting that project; sketching; building an idea. |
| Art and Nature | Feeling a genuine sense of awe from a view or a piece of music. |
| Genuine Hunger/Sleep | Savoring a meal after work; the deep, restorative rest after physical effort. |
| Love and Laughter | Moments of deep, engaged connection and spontaneous joy. |
| Good Argument | The invigorating exchange of ideas, not just a social formality. |
These are the moments when the senses are fully engaged, and the self retreats into the experience. As Chase noted, even drudgery can become a “plus” if a mental shift—like the euphoria of springtime—makes you feel “suddenly alive in old, monotonous surroundings.”
The Mechanics of “Existence”
Conversely, Chase’s “minus” hours are strikingly relevant to modern life. His list of “existence” states—where routine dulls the senses—reads like a critique of 21st-century inertia:
- Drudgery: Today, this is the endless loop of checking email, paying bills, and administrative overhead.
- Dull Senses: Eating or drinking while distracted; sleeping when exhausted but not truly rested.
- Monotony: Too-familiar rooms, streets, and the sheer ugliness of commercial sprawl.
- Anger: Retreating from life through petty disagreements, rows, and “getting even.”
In the modern context, we can add Mindless Scrolling. It is a pure state of existence: an endless, repetitive motion that delivers low-grade stimulation but zero deep meaning, leaving us depleted, not restored.
How to Boost Your Living Percentage
Chase believed he could deliberately “live” twice as much. This isn’t about quitting your job and moving to the mountains; it’s about recalibrating your focus within the hours you already have.
The essence of the fix is to move from Passive to Active:
- Reclaim a Plus-Activity: Identify one of Chase’s “plus” categories that you’ve neglected (creation, awe, deep talk). Schedule just 30 minutes this week to engage in it fully, without distraction.
- Savor the Senses: Choose one meal to eat with zero technology, genuinely paying attention to the taste and texture. Turn your daily walk into a “nature” break, even if it’s just noticing the sky or the rhythm of the city.
- Audit Your “Existence”: For one day, keep a mental tally. When did you slip below the line? Was it the rote work, the social obligation, or the mindless phone use? Awareness is the single greatest tool to boost your percentage.
Living isn’t a distant goal; it’s an active choice we make in the quiet spaces between tasks. It happens when we stop being mechanical and start being awake.
We just have to stop existing long enough to see it.
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