Schopenhauer is badass
5 ideas from the book Aphorisms on the Art of Living that I love.
Although I haven’t read his entire body of work, some time ago I came across The Wisdom of Life, a short book where some of the philosophical ideas Schopenhauer wrote throughout his life are explained.
Once you read the book, you realize he is a person with zero modesty and a bit misogynistic. And that’s why I like him so much. Because I’m tired of seeing so much false modesty and so many people worried about being politically correct. Seeing someone who doesn’t fall into those biases is like drying off in the sun after a refreshing cold water bath in the summer.
I am sure that if he were alive today, he would be a tremendous textbook hater. And I would subscribe to his newsletter.
Without further ado, here are 5 ideas of his that I liked a lot.
Life oscillates between pain and boredom
Schopenhauer considers pain and boredom to be the two greatest enemies of human happiness. Life consists of an oscillation between the two.
This translates to the following: if you really love Iberian ham and deprive yourself of it for a long time, you will feel pain from not being able to taste it. Conversely, if you get unlimited Iberian ham and eat it compulsively, you will end up hating it, or in other words, getting bored of it.
Finding the balance is where virtue lies. And more so today, where we live in abundance.
Nine-tenths of our happiness depends solely on our health
Health is the pillar of our happiness. We remember how happy we were being healthy when we are sick. How well we were enjoying the fullness of our body. And that’s when we try to remedy the illness instead of preventing it.
And this is related to what I wrote two days ago about commitment.
Losing health is synonymous with being unhappy. I don’t know anyone who is happy to be in a hospital within those four walls. Nor do I know anyone who has a mental health problem who can be in tune with what is around them.
And although we cannot ensure that we will avoid illness, we can commit to our health in the same way, as this will reduce the likelihood of getting sick.
Our existence requires activity
Our existence in this world should be restless. That’s our nature, as inactivity leads to the most terrible tedium.
Therefore, it is indispensable to be active to be happy.
To engage in something.
To produce something.
To learn something.
And to do so until the last day of your life.
Because living is about overcoming obstacles. And only when you overcome resistance do you start to understand something you were not able to understand before.
That’s how we’ve gotten to where we are today. Without need and without restlessness, we would be an extinct species.
Throughout our entire life, we only truly have the present, and nothing but the present
The only difference in this latter stage is that at the beginning, we see a long future unfolding before us, whereas toward the end of life, we see a long past unfolding behind us.
In childhood, we have few relationships, and our needs are very limited, meaning there is little stimulus for the will: most of our being is thus dedicated to the activity of knowing.
Man reaches nil admirari “to be surprised by nothing” at an advanced age. This means the immediate, sincere, and firm conviction about the vanity of all things and the emptiness of all the wonders of the world: the chimeras have disappeared.
And the desire to see, travel, and learn is replaced by the desire to teach and talk.
Focus on the internal
Throughout the book, he makes many references to happiness and the ways he considered viable to obtain it.
And perhaps of all of them, this is the point I like the most and the one I pursue the most.
Focusing on intelligence, temperament, mood, and health should be our priorities in life. Because all of them stem from our interior.
On the other hand, all the external sources that can produce happiness for us, like money or fame, are uncertain, defective, and fleeting.
Focusing on the wrong ones will make us neglect the others. This is well explained in these paragraphs from the book:
“It is great foolishness to lose in the internal to gain in the external and to partially or totally sacrifice one’s tranquility, independence, and leisure for the sake of splendor, rank, luxury, titles, or honors.”
“Wealth is like seawater: the more you drink of it, the thirstier you become; and the same applies to fame.”
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