What does it mean to learn how to live? Where does one even begin? The existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “Everything in the world has been figured out, except how to live.”
In the classic Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche wrote,
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all… I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.
Similarly, psychologist Viktor Frankl explained in his book Yes to Life (published after his death) that to say yes to life is meaningful and possible under all circumstances.
In my conversation with Nate Anderson (author of In Emergency, Break Glass), he explained that for Nietzsche, the point of life is not to get through content; it is not to master knowledge. “It is to learn how to live. And then to actually live.”
According to Nietzsche, learning begins with self-knowledge. The heart of Nietzsche’s approach points towards knowing yourself. Knowing your limits and embracing them. Reject the burden of any information that does not contribute to living your life. Nietzsche believed we must be willing not to know many things to truly live.
Learning to live is a call to action for Nietzsche. The call to stop sitting in the shade, to stop being a spectator to one’s own life, to think, to speak, to live. An ingredient in this call to action is a goal or meaning for life.
In his book Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche advised,
In a journey, we commonly forget its goal. Almost every vocation is chosen and entered upon as means to an end, but is continued as the ultimate end. Forgetting our purpose is the most frequent form of folly.
In one of his notebooks, published after his death, Nietzsche writes eloquently about this need for goals: “If the ‘why’ of one’s life is clear, then the ‘how’ will take care of itself.” Saying yes to life requires us to begin understanding ourselves and our reason for living.
Nietzsche stressed that we could not return to the past. “We have burned the boats; all that remains is for us to be brave and let happen what may. Let us only go forward; let us make a move!”
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Thank you for listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
JW
How to Say Yes to Life - According to Nietzsche