Welcome to A Lotus Girl Blog, lifestyle category, where today we will be discussing six philosophical lessons that will change your perspective of life.
A while ago, I came across a book by Alain de Botton titled The Consolations of Philosophy: How Philosophy Can Help Us in Life, and I was captivated by its content.
In the book, the author presents the philosophy of six philosophers from different cultures, time periods, and philosophical schools. They are, in the order they appear in the book: Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Through the philosophy of these great thinkers, the author consoles the reader regarding many matters they may have believed to be unsolvable in their lives. He starts by consoling us regarding going against prevailing opinions, then about the lack of money, followed by consolation about frustration, and then about helplessness. He goes on to console us about heartbreak, and finally about hardships.
I was inspired by today’s article about six philosophical lessons taught by great philosophers to share with you a brief summary of what I learned from this wonderful book, which I definitely recommend for you to read. Enjoy the read!
First rule: Do not fear questioning common understanding and seeking the truth.
The Greek philosopher Socrates noticed during his life in Athens how people and societies confused what was common with what was true or right. People saw no need to question the “knowledge” that had been passed down in their societies through generations.
This weakened their will to question and led them to follow the herd, unable to see themselves as pioneers in discovering truths that were still difficult and unknown, rejecting the possibility that they could be right while everyone around them was wrong. Unfortunately, this dilemma still exists today in our lives and societies.
Socrates called for seeking the truth and differentiating it from common judgment through a logical method of thinking. The philosopher also emphasized avoiding two dangerous illusions: always listening or never listening to the dictates of prevailing opinion.
Second rule: What you think brings you happiness doesn’t actually do so!
What we mean by what you think brings you happiness but doesn’t, refers specifically to money, in addition to many other secondary things. For most people, happiness was a list of possessions like big houses, luxurious cars, and fancy clothes… However, in reality, this list doesn’t bring happiness when realized if essential elements of happiness are absent.
Epicurus believed that these elements were friendship, freedom, and financial independence, which, in his view, meant having a garden to grow one’s own food and meet basic needs without needing to work in fields like commerce or politics. Additionally, he considered thinking important, stating that “when a problem is written down or brought up in conversation, we will be able to strip it of its secondary aggravating factors: disturbance, isolation, surprise, even if we can’t solve the problem itself.”
Thus, Epicurus had three types of desires: first, natural and necessary, second, natural but unnecessary, and third, neither natural nor necessary. In the first category, he listed friends, freedom, thought, food, shelter, and clothing. In the second, large houses, feasts, servants… Finally, in the third category were fame and power.
It’s worth noting that Epicurus didn’t discourage striving for more wealth or status but emphasized that achieving this wouldn’t bring happiness if the basic elements of happiness weren’t available.
Third rule: The best thing to do when feeling frustrated is to try to understand and endure it.
After suffering greatly from frustration throughout his life, even until his last days, the Roman philosopher Seneca developed an exceptional view on how to deal with frustration in life. He began by stating that at the heart of every frustration is: “the clash of a desire with a harsh reality.” After “discovering that the sources of our satisfaction lie outside our control and that the world does not conform to our desires,” he found that the best thing to do is to endure and try to understand frustration rather than react excessively with anger, self-pity, anxiety, bitter sarcasm, paranoia, or hysteria.
Seneca also stressed that the wise person knows when to accept frustrations and when not to. If humanity had accepted all the frustrations it faced, it would not have reached the level of intellectual, cultural, and technological advancement it has today. The question “Should things be this way?” has two answers: one calls for changing reality, and the other for accepting it.
Fourth rule: The key to a simple and wise life is self-acceptance and embracing one’s flaws.
The philosopher Montaigne focused his philosophy on self-acceptance and dealing with personal imperfections as a natural part of human life. Montaigne believed that wisdom lies in acknowledging our flaws and appreciating our lives, with all their uncertainties and complexities.
He categorized our imperfections as physiological, cultural, and intellectual. Montaigne first called for recognizing the importance of the body just as much as the soul, and to live with all of its needs without shame. He also emphasized accepting all lifestyles and practices from other cultures and not acting aggressively towards them simply because they are “foreign” to our own. Finally, Montaigne opposed the concept of intelligence in our world being limited to academic knowledge. He defined intelligence as the wisdom to answer life’s mysterious questions and experiences by ourselves, even in our daily lives.
Fifth rule: Lowering expectations is the way to avoid suffering and live in peace.
The philosopher Schopenhauer had a unique view of life, believing it to be of “no intrinsic value” and that it “continues through desire and illusion.” Thus, he consoled people for their heartbreaks, describing love as nothing more than a trick by the will of life, obsessed with reproduction, which controls the conscious mind of humans.
Schopenhauer believed that our partners are the people who help us create the “perfect child” by compensating for our flaws. Heartbreak happens simply because our beloved was not “right” for us to create the perfect child—our personalities are not repulsive, and our faces are not ugly. Although this theory might sometimes seem illogical, Schopenhauer found it comforting to believe it and to blame it for heartbreak rather than suffer because of it.
Additionally, he invited us not to be surprised by misery and not to seek meaning in life. Schopenhauer did not intend to push us into despair but rather to free us from expectations that lead to bitterness.
Sixth rule: Not everything that makes us feel better is necessarily good for us, and not everything that hurts us is bad.
Unlike the philosophers before him, the German philosopher Nietzsche believed that avoiding suffering and attempting to reduce it, along with the accompanying feelings of misery, anxiety, despair, anger, self-contempt, and sorrow in pursuit of happiness, is a cowardly, foolish, and wrong act.
Nietzsche advised embracing unhappiness, seeing it and happiness as linked, just like pain and pleasure. Therefore, if we want to reduce human suffering, we must also reduce humans’ capacity for happiness. Nietzsche also noted that when faced with suffering, there are two choices humans can take: first, they can succumb to the suffering, or second, they can turn it into a great achievement, something beautiful. The more suffering and pain we endure, the greater our accomplishments.
Nietzsche despised all that humans resorted to in order to “reduce” their suffering, such as alcohol, obedience hidden behind phrases of kindness, submission, and forgiveness… He called upon us, through his philosophy, to embark on a difficult journey by climbing the steep mountain of life, where the path will be dangerous, and the oxygen scarce. But only when we reach the summit will we be able to see the view and gain full perspective.
And so we reach the end of the article. Thank you for reading. I hope you found these Philosophical lessons useful and interesting.Tell us in the comments which of these pieces of advice is your favorite.
Read more about The Consolations of Philosophy book by Alain de Botton:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23419.The_Consolations_of_Philosophy
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