This piece is a follow-up to yesterday — The Timeless Art of Leading a Life. Seneca wrote in a letter to Lucilius, “As long as you live, never stop learning how to live.” It takes a whole life to learn how to live…
The Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus taught his students: “The person who claims to be studying philosophy must practice it even more diligently than the person who aspires to the art of medicine or some similar skill since philosophy is more important and harder to grasp than any other pursuit.”
The lesson here — we must realize the difficulty of leading a life. Just as no one learns to play a musical instrument without deliberate and consistent effort. No one learns how to live merely by chance. For this reason, people like Leo Tolstoy, Socrates, and many others stressed focusing on the basic rules of life.
The Basic Rules of Life
In the daily reader, A Calendar of Wisdom, Tolstoy wrote,
“It is better to know several basic rules of life than to study many unnecessary sciences. The major rules of life will stop you from evil and show you the good path in life, but the knowledge of many unnecessary sciences may lead you into the temptation of pride and stop you from understanding the basic rules of life.”
Socrates believed that sophisticated knowledge requires an extra effort that takes the student from the most critical endeavor — moral excellence.
In his new book, The Quest for Character, writer and philosopher Massimo Pigliucci (previous and upcoming podcast guest) writes that the ancient Greco-Romans focused on the four cardinal virtues, understood as character traits or behavioral inclinations that ought to be cultivated and used as a moral compass to navigate our lives. “In order to live a good life,” observes Pigliucci, “we need a society where people act virtuously, a goal that is not that difficult to achieve…”
But just because leading a life and cultivating our character is challenging does not mean would should abandon the project — quite the contrary. Most wisdom traditions advise following the difficult path.
For example, the Buddha explained, “Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do.” Likewise, the Gospel of Matthew advises, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (7:13).
Practicing the Art of Living
Musonius Rufus was once asked, “Is theory or practice more important?” Musonius responded, “Although understanding the theory behind the action enables one to speak, it is practice that enables one to act.” One is never finished learning how to live. Each day and each moment is another opportunity to practice the art of living. Leading the good life is a perennial path.
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
The quote, "we must realize the difficulty of leading a life", really connected. As I continue to grow I realize more and more how important it is to empathize with all whom I encounter. Each has their own ever-evolving story, and each learns from their experience using the tools they have built for themself. And we are all at various stages of the tool building process.
I have really enjoyed your posts and have been looking for a quality publication that I stand behind to recommend on my page. Perennial Meditations will now become my first ever recommendation.
Thanks for the work you do, JW.