wisdom of life

Chapter 11 Recommendations and Maxims (2)
Solitude is the lot of the spiritually superior: they sometimes lament it, but they always choose solitude, the lesser of two evils.As we grow older, it becomes easier and more natural to "make yourself follow reason" in this regard.When a man reaches the age of sixty his desire for solitude becomes really natural, even instinctive, because at this age all factors combine to help form the desire for solitude.The strong taste for society, that is, for women and sexual desire, has cooled down.In fact, asexuality in old age lays the groundwork for a person to achieve a certain kind of self-sufficiency; and self-sufficiency gradually sucks away one's desire for social interaction.We give up all kinds of fantasies and follies; the active, busy life is largely over by this time.At this time, there is nothing to look forward to, no plans and plans.The generation we belong to is also running low.The crowd around us belonged to a new, unfamiliar generation, and we became an objective, truly solitary existence.The passage of time is getting faster and faster, and we are more willing to spend the time at this moment on spiritual thoughts.For if our minds are still alive, the wealth of knowledge and experience we have accumulated, the insights we have gradually perfected, the skill with which we have mastered the use of our faculties, enable us to study things more than ever before. easy and fun.Innumerable things that had been clouded before were now clearly seen by us; things had a clear result, and we felt that we had some kind of complete advantage.Rich experience makes us no longer have too high expectations for others, because in general, others are not all people who will gain our favor and approval after we get to know them better.We know, on the contrary, that, except in some very rare and fortunate cases, we encounter nothing but specimens of human defects.We'd better keep our distance from these people.Thus, we are no longer deluded by the usual illusions of life.We judge a person by his appearance; we do not long for deeper contact with such a person.In the end, the habit of separating from others and staying with ourselves becomes second nature to us, especially when solitude has been our friend since youth.Thus, the love of solitude becomes the simplest and most natural thing.But before that, it has to wrestle with the social urge.In solitary life, we are like ducks in water.Therefore, any outstanding individual-and because he is excellent, he can only stand out from the crowd and be alone-in youth, he is oppressed by the inevitable loneliness, but in old age, he can grow with ease. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, the degree to which each person enjoys the benefits of old age is determined by the person's mental intelligence.So while everyone enjoys the benefits of old age to some extent, only the spiritually superior enjoy their time in old age to the fullest.Only those who are mentally inferior and too mediocre can still enjoy worldly people in old age as much as they did in youth.They are long-winded and boring to a group that no longer suits them; the best they can do is to be tolerated.But before that, they were popular people.

Our age is inversely proportional to our degree of sociability—and here we can also find philosophical teleology at work.The younger a person is, the more he needs to learn in all aspects.In this way, nature provides opportunities for young people to learn from each other.When people associate with people like themselves, they learn from each other.In this respect, human society can be called a vast educational institution of the Bell-Lancaster model [15].School and book education in general are artificial because these things are far from nature's plan.Therefore, the younger a man is, the more interested he is in entering into the school of nature--which is nature's purpose.

As Horace said, "There is nothing perfect in this world." An Indian proverb says, "There is no lotus without a stalk." So, while there are many advantages to being alone, there are also small inconveniences and trouble.However, these inconveniences and troubles are insignificant compared with the disadvantages of being with many people.Therefore, a person of real inner worth will surely find life easier in solitude than in company with others.However, among the many inconveniences of living alone, one disadvantage is not easy to attract our attention: just as staying indoors makes our bodies quite sensitive to external influences, a small gust of cold wind can cause Physical illness; similarly, living in isolation for a long time will make our emotions extremely sensitive. Some insignificant things, words, and even other people's expressions and eyes will make us feel uneasy, hurt and painful.In contrast, a person who lives in a hustle and bustle will not notice these trivial things at all.

If a man chooses solitude out of a justifiable dislike of others, out of fear, he cannot bear the dark side of solitude for long, especially when young.The advice I give to this kind of people is to develop such a habit: bring part of the loneliness into the social crowd, and learn to maintain a certain degree of loneliness in the crowd.In this way, he must learn not to tell others what he thinks anytime, anywhere; in addition, he must not take what others say too seriously.He can't expect too much from others, whether morally or ideologically.He should exercise an attitude of indifference and indifference to the opinions of others, because this is one of the most practical means of cultivating a commendable tolerance.Although he lives among the crowd, he cannot completely become a part of the crowd; he should maintain an objective relationship with the crowd as much as possible.This will prevent him from getting too closely connected with the social group, which will also protect him from the slander and insult of others.Regarding this restrained way of interacting with people, we find the dramatic description worth reading in the comedy "The Cafe, or New Comedy" written by Mo Ladan, especially in the second scene of the first act of the play. D. Depiction of Pedro's character.In this sense, we can compare a social group to a fire. A wise person knows how to keep a distance from the fire when he is warming up, and he will not get too close to the fire like a fool; , and plunged into cold solitude, complaining loudly about the scorching fire.

Section X

Jealousy is natural to man, but at the same time it is both a sin and a misfortune [16].Therefore, we should regard it as an enemy to our happiness, and we should deal with it like a demon.Seneca's beautiful words give us instructions: "If we are not compared with others, we will be happy with what we get; if we are disturbed because others are more fortunate than us, we will never be happy. Also, "If you see a lot of people living better than you, just think about how many people are worse off than you." So, we should think more about people who are worse off than us , because those who live better than us just look better than we do.Even when actual misfortune befell us, the most effective consolation--though this springs from the same source as envy--is the thought of those who have suffered more greatly, and next, to spend more time with those who are in our situation, That is to say, to communicate and contact with people who are sick and sympathetic.

So much for the active side of jealousy.As for the passive side of envy, we should keep in mind that no hatred is as ineradicable as envy.For this reason, we must not give it an endless stimulus; on the contrary, we had better abstain from enjoying it, like so many other pleasures, lest we suffer its consequences.

There are three types of nobility in this world: ①Nobility based on birth and status; ②Nobility based on money and wealth; ③Nobility based on spiritual thinking.The last class is truly noble; given their time, their dignity will be recognized.Frederick the Great once said: "The man of the superior soul occupies the same position as the emperor." The Superintendent dined at the same table, while Voltaire was seated at the table reserved only for kings and princes.Around these three classes of nobility gathered a multitude of envious people, who were privately tormented by the dignity possessed by others.When they no longer need to be afraid of these nobles, they will take pains to change various ways to let the nobles know: "You are not much better than us!" However, these efforts they made just revealed this fact: They actually believe the opposite.The proper way for people who are prone to envy is to keep a considerable distance from the envious person and avoid contact with them as much as possible, so that there is always a huge gap between the two parties.If this is not possible, then the best course is to be able to maintain the utmost calm and calm when attacked by envious people, because the cause of envious people's attack is enough to counteract their attacks, which is generally practical. countermeasures.At the same time, these three types of nobles live in peace and harmony, and there is no jealousy, because they all have their own advantages to achieve balance.

Section No.11

Before we carry out a plan, we should think it over; and though every detail has been thought out, we still need to make allowances for the limitations and inadequacies of human knowledge.Because there may always be some situations that we cannot consider or cannot predict; these situations will disrupt our overall plan once they occur.This kind of concern will affect us on the negative side, reminding us that when dealing with important matters, we should not act rashly if there is no need, "It is better to be still than to move."But once we have made a decision and acted on it, the next step is to wait for the outcome and let things develop naturally.Let us not be so troublesome as to keep looking back at what has been done and worrying about possible dangers.At this point, we should put the whole thing behind us and stop thinking about it, because we can be sure that everything that should be considered has been thought out in due time, and we deserve peace.An Italian proverb suggests this - Goethe translated it as: "The horse is saddled, let it go!" By the way, many of the proverbs and aphorisms that Goethe collected came from Italian folk proverbs.If things come to a bad end, it is because all human affairs are subject to the teasing of accident and error.Socrates—the wisest man who ever lived—needed some kind of magic to warn him in his private affairs, to do the right thing, or at least to avoid mistakes.This proves that human intelligence is not enough to guarantee the development of things.As such, it was first said by a pope that we are to blame for every misfortune that befell us—at least to some extent—though not absolutely in every case. True, but in most cases it is true.It is precisely because people have a feeling for this truth that they do their best to conceal and whitewash their misfortune, and to try to appear as indifferent as possible: they are afraid that others will infer from their misfortune their guilt. .

Section No.12
When encountering an unchangeable misfortune that has already happened, we cannot even allow ourselves to think that things could have had another ending; let alone imagine that we could have prevented this misfortune from happening.Since such thoughts only aggravate the pain to an unbearable level, we are thereby torturing ourselves.We should follow the example of King David.When his son was sick and lying in bed, he begged and begged Jehovah God endlessly; but after his son died, he snapped his fingers, and he never thought about his son's death anymore.Those who find it difficult to relax themselves must comfort themselves with the theory of fate, because the theory of fate tells people such a truth: everything that happens must happen and is inevitable.

However, this rule also has its one-sidedness.It certainly contributes to our relief and consolation in times of misfortune, but if our recklessness is to be partly responsible for our unhappiness--as it usually is--there is no question of how to prevent it in the first place. It is some kind of beneficial corporal punishment that we should implement, and we can learn a lesson from a fall, which will be of great benefit to the future.We should not excuse ourselves for obvious mistakes, downplay or whitewash them, as we often do.We should admit our mistakes and clearly understand the seriousness of these mistakes, so that we can make up our minds to avoid repeating the mistakes in the future.Of course, in doing so, we will inevitably have to make some painful self-blame, but "it is impossible to make progress without accepting punishment and lessons."

Section No.13
For everything that involves pain and pleasure, we should keep the floodgates of our imagination fast.First, let's not build castles in the air.These castles in the air are too expensive, because they will be razed to the ground with a sigh.However, we must be more careful not to exaggerate and imagine those misfortunes that are only possible, so as not to be unnecessarily frightened.If the misfortunes were grossly exaggerated, or simply unfounded, then upon waking we would know that they were illusions, we would be glad of a better reality, and, in any case, we would Distant, but after all there may be misfortune to be alert yet.However, our imagination will not play with such unfounded things casually. When we are really bored, our imagination can at most just build some comfortable and pleasant castles in the air.The stuff of our dark imaginations is indeed the unfortunate thing that threatens us in some way.Our imagination exaggerates such misfortunes and their possibility, and paints and paints them in hideous colours.After waking up from these nightmares, we still can't get rid of them immediately, but the good dreams we had are immediately forgotten by us-because these good dreams are immediately refuted and overthrown by reality; A glimmer of hope may be realized.Once we are captured by dark imaginations, they bring all kinds of vivid phantoms, images - these visions are not so easy to disappear, because the possibility of these things exists after all, and we have no power to make them happen. Make an estimate.Things that are just possible will appear likely to happen.In this way, we surrender to our worry, our fear, and allow ourselves to be at its mercy.Therefore, anything that concerns our pain and happiness should be observed and considered with rationality and judgment, that is, to think calmly and without personal emotions, and to use pure concepts to operate in the abstract.We should not mix thinking with imagination, because imagination has no ability to judge things.On the contrary, imagination only brings clear images that disturb our emotions and increase our suffering without doing any good.We need to observe this rule especially at night, for just as darkness makes us cowardly and sees frightening shapes everywhere, so the obscurity of our thoughts has a similar effect on us, for any Uncertainty creates insecurity.So, at night, when we relax, a certain subjective obscurity casts over the understanding and judgment; the intellect grows weary and dull, and cannot penetrate into the essence of things.The objects of our quiet contemplation—if they concern our personal affairs—can easily take on a cloak of danger and dread, and transform them into ghastly images.This often happens at night when we lie in bed, for at this time our minds are completely relaxed and our judgment is therefore unable to cope with the task given to us, but the imagination is still very much alive.Night casts a black tinge on everything.Therefore, when we are about to fall asleep, or even when we wake up from a sleep, there are some upside-down things in our minds, just like sleep.If they are our personal affairs, they generally appear dark, even frightening.In the morning, all these horrible images disappeared like a dream.As a Spanish proverb says, "The day is white, but the night is colored." At night, even with a lighted candle, our understanding, like our eyes, cannot grasp things as clearly as it does during the day.For this reason, night time is not a good time for serious thinking, especially unpleasant things.Morning is the right time to think about these kinds of things.The morning is without exception a time for people to do any kind of mental or physical work.Morning is the youthful time of the day: everything is bright, fresh and light.We feel energized and able to function freely.We should not cut our mornings short by snoozing, or waste them with worthless work and small talk.Instead, we should cherish the morning as the golden hour of life and regard it as sacred in some way.Evening, by contrast, is the senile part of the day when we become tired, flippant and chatty.Every day is a short life: waking up in the morning is birth, and sleeping at night is death and ending.So every day of sleeping is the death of the day, and every day of waking is the birth of a new day.In fact, we can compare the discomfort and sleepiness of waking up to the hardships of birth, and then my analogy is completely complete.

But, in general, our state of health, how well we sleep, and many other external factors such as nutrition, temperature, weather, environment, etc. can greatly affect our emotions, which in turn can heavily affect our thoughts.So our perception of things and the exercise of our abilities are not only constrained by time, but even by place.so,
Beware of the solemn hour,
Because it rarely comes.

- Goethe

Not only do we have to wait for objective thoughts and unique points of view—whether and when they come can only be left to their whim—we even have a predetermined time and are ready to seriously consider certain ideas. some things, but we don't always succeed.All of these require a certain amount of time.When the time comes, relevant ideas will come unsolicited, and when that time comes, we will fully commit to it.

As for my recommendation to control the imagination of our minds, I would add that we should not allow our imagination to turn into vivid images of injustices, insults, slights, losses, etc. that we have suffered, because this will stimulate us. Sleeping anger, resentment, and other aversions.This also corrupts our emotions.The Neoplatonist Polocles has this beautiful metaphor: in every town there are noble and prominent men and a lowly rabble, and in the same way, in everyone-even the noblest and most outstanding There are also some extremely vulgar and ugly elements hidden in human nature and even animal nature that vary from person to person; these mobs must not be incited to make trouble, and they must not be allowed to go out of the window. Look, for they will show their ugliness; and those imaginary things I have just spoken of are the ringleaders of mob rebellion.Also, it's worth mentioning that even a trivial annoyance—whether it's caused by someone or something—can swell into a horrible state if we keep it in our minds and paint it exaggeratedly in strong colors. The giant, let us helpless.When dealing with any unpleasant things, we should hold an attitude as objective and realistic as possible, so that we can accept them more easily.If small objects are placed too close to the eyes, our field of vision will be limited and we will not be able to see other things. Similarly, people and things within our immediate range, although they are trivial and irrelevant , but often too much to attract our attention and occupy our thoughts, and even cause us unhappiness.In this way, we have no time to attend to important thoughts and things.We should restrain this tendency.

Section No.14
When we see something, it's so easy to think, "Oh, if only I could have that!" We feel lacking.In fact, we should often think like this: "Yeah, what if I lose something?"-I mean: Sometimes we might as well imagine losing something we have How will we treat what we have lost.Indeed, this is how we should view everything we own: whether it is property, health, friends, wives, children, people we love, or horses, dogs, and so on.Because in most cases, we don't know the value of something until we lose it.If the reader can see things in the way I recommend here, then, first, we will immediately feel an immediate and greater than ever joy in our possession; Possession.Then we will not make fun of our property, irritate our friends, tempt our faithful wives, neglect to monitor the health of our children, etc.Often, in order to brighten the present grayness of life, we contemplate all kinds of wonderful possibilities, imagine all kinds of tantalizing hopes out of thin air, and all of these are pregnant with disappointment.Once they are shattered by the harsh truth, disappointment is sure to follow.It would be to our advantage if we considered more of the possible disadvantages.Because doing so will prompt us to take corresponding preventive measures. In addition, once the expected bad things do not happen, then we will get unexpected surprises.Aren't we visibly happier after a bout of worry?In fact, it is a good thing from time to time to imagine the great misfortunes and disasters that may befall us, so that we can more easily bear the many minor misfortunes that actually follow, because we can A little comfort to myself: those great misfortunes did not happen after all.But, in considering this rule, let us not ignore the one that preceded it.

Section No.15
The things that concern us happen separately, without order, without relation to each other, and with great difference; all they have in common is that they concern us.Just because of this, we should be similarly crisp and agile in considering and handling things accordingly, and avoid being entangled.Therefore, when we deal with a certain matter, we must ignore all other things, worry about, worry about or be happy about a certain thing at the right time, and ignore other things.To use an analogy, we must have a chest of drawers for our thoughts, and when one drawer is pulled out, the other drawers remain in place.In this way, we don't lose the fun of being at the same time by thinking about a heavy problem, and our tranquility isn't robbed by it.Our consideration of one matter will not replace our consideration of another, nor will our attention to major issues lead to the neglect of many small issues, and so on.In particular, it is to be noted that a man of deep and noble thoughts should not allow his spiritual thoughts to be so completely occupied by private trifles and low cares that he cannot think deeply and noblely, for to do so is indeed "to destroy life for the sake of life." the purpose of life".Of course, self-discipline is essential to be able to control oneself freely-everything is to be done well.In order to do this we must reinforce the idea that every human being has to bear many, many difficult constraints from without, without which life would not be life.Timely small constraints on yourself will avoid many external shackles in the future, just like in a circle, the small circle next to the center corresponds to the circumference circle, and the latter is often hundreds of times larger than the former .Self-discipline saves us from external restraints more effectively than any other means.As Seneca said: "If you want to bring everything under your control, then put yourself under the control of reason!" And, self-restraint is within our power, when it is a last resort, or when this If this restraint touches our most sensitive place, and the situation has become miserable, we can still give it up.Compared with this, the bondage from outside is harsh and cruel, without the slightest mercy.Therefore, it is wise to avoid external constraints through self-discipline.

Section No.16
We should set limits to our desires, temper our desires, control our anger, always bearing in mind the fact that there are many desirable things in this world, but we can only get a tiny fraction of them, In contrast, many disasters are bound to befall us.In other words: "Give up and endure" is our maxim.If we do not live by this rule, we shall feel poor and wretched, against which not even wealth and position can do anything.

That's what Horace's verse says:
Scrutinize what you have done, and ask wise men for advice on how to live your life with peace of mind and ease, free from the torment and torment of desire and hope for useless things.

Section No.17
Aristotle said, "Life consists in motion." Clearly, he was right.Our physical life exists in constant motion; the inner spiritual life is always in need of activity, either by thought or by doing.Evidence of this is this: when the mindless man has nothing to do, he taps his fingers, or any object at hand.Put another way: our existence is fundamentally turbulent, so complete immobility quickly becomes unbearable because it brings about horrific boredom.The human impulse to this activity should be regulated so as to obtain a reasonable and therefore better satisfaction.Therefore, being able to do something, if possible make something, or at least learn something, is absolutely essential to our well-being.A person's ability needs to be brought into play, and he is eager to see the results of his ability.In this respect, making or finishing something, whether it be a basket or a book, gives us great satisfaction.There is an immediate pleasure in seeing the work at hand progress and finally complete.Creating a work of art, writing an article, or even engaging in some kind of crafting brings us pleasure.Of course, the nobler our work, the greater the joy we feel.The happiest people in this respect are indeed the happiest of men who are endowed with superior qualities, and who at the same time are conscious of their ability to produce a great work rich in meaning and coherence.For throughout their lives such persons have had an interest of a very high order which gives their life a flavor which is lacking in the lives of ordinary people.Therefore, in comparison, the lives of ordinary people are shallow and tasteless.To the above-mentioned endowed beings, life, the affairs of the world, with all that is prosaic and material, have another, higher, formal interest, because all these materials contain the themes of their creations.As long as the plight of their personal lives allowed them to breathe, they dedicated their lives to collecting this material.These people have, to a certain extent, a double intelligence: one is used to deal with ordinary relations (that is, matters related to desire), in which they are no different from ordinary people; the other is exerted on the objective grasp of things.For this reason, they lead a double life, both as spectators and actors on the stage.The general public is only the latter.But no matter what, everyone will work hard to do something according to their own talents.The bad effect of idleness on us can be seen in the long excursions we take, for at times we sometimes feel morose.Once bored, people seem to be out of their original nature.Efforts and struggles to overcome difficulties and obstacles are a human need, just as drilling is essential for groundhogs.The stagnation that comes with the wantingness of lasting satisfaction will become unbearable.Clearing obstacles and difficulties can be a lot of fun.These obstacles and difficulties can be material—such as those encountered in daily life and business; they can also be spiritual—such as problems in learning and research.Competing with these difficulties and obstacles and overcoming them makes people happy.If there is no opportunity to do so, people will try to create opportunities individually according to their individuality.Either they go hunting, or they play ball, or they are driven unconsciously by their nature to quarrel, to intrigue, to swindle, or to engage in other misdeeds.The reason people do it is simply to put an end to that unbearable state of boredom. "It's hard to stay calm when you have nothing to do."

Section No.18
Our guides to action and endeavor must not be imaginary images, but well-thought-out concepts.But what actually happens is usually the opposite.So we only need to examine carefully to see that it is often not concepts and judgments that ultimately determine our choices, but images of our imagination.In fact, the latter is just one of our choices.In a novel by Voltaire or Diderot—I can't remember who—the hero is a young man who stands at the crossroads in the form of Hercules, and virtue personifies A character like a prince and a tutor: holding a snuff bottle in his left hand and a pinch of snuff in his right hand, preaching morality to the hero; the evil image is the maid of the hero's mother.Especially during adolescence, our goals of happiness are fixed in certain images.These images constantly flash before our eyes, often for half our lives, if not our entire lives.These images are seductive ghosts, because when we catch them, they become nothing.We have thus learned that the pictures do not really give what they promise.Our imaginary pictures of family life, social gatherings, country life, and even our homage to our homes, surroundings, and other people fall into this category.Even our lovers who remain in our imaginary images often fall into the same category. "Every fool wears a fool's hat." [17] This situation is quite natural, because the intuitive picture of things is immediate knowledge, which acts more directly on the human body than concepts, that is, abstract thoughts. our will.Concepts can only tell us the general state of things, but never the single, concrete thing, which contains reality.Concepts, therefore, act only indirectly on our wills; but concepts keep their promises.Education, then, is to make us trust in concepts only.Of course, some images are needed for explanation and elaboration for educational purposes, but that is only auxiliary.

Section No.19
The above rule can be listed under the more general rule that we should always be at the mercy of our impressions and intuitive perceptions of the reality before us.The reason why these visual images can produce a more powerful effect than our thoughts and perceptions is not because of the content and material of visual impressions-which are usually quite limited-but because of the form of these images, their intuitiveness and directness.Impressions invade our emotions powerfully, disturbing their equanimity or shaking its firmness.What exists before us and can be directly contemplated always has an immediate effect in all its power, and it is easy for us to see it at a glance.Thought and reasoning, by contrast, require time and quiet, and we can only dwell on one thing in detail alone at a time.Therefore, the results of thinking cannot be presented in front of our eyes every moment.It is for this reason that we are attracted by the sight of a desirable object, even though we have relinquished it upon deliberation.In the same way, we know that a certain judgment of another person is totally untenable, but our heart is still unhappy about it; although we know that an offense of another person is too base to be disputed, it still makes us feel uncomfortable. We are angry.Based on the same principle, ten reasons for the absence of danger are no match for a superficial illusion of danger.All of these examples help us recognize the fundamental irrationality that lies deep within our nature.Women often succumb to similar impressions, and the number of men who are too rational to be affected by them is very small.When we cannot neutralize the influence of an impression purely through thought, the best way is to neutralize its action by the opposite impression.For example, when we are insulted by others, we can think of those who respect us; when dealing with a threatening danger in our impression, our minds focus on the way to resolve this danger.In Leibniz's "New Dissertation" (the first Chapter 2), Leibniz talked about an Italian who used methods to withstand the torture of others.The image of the guillotine continued in the Italian's mind for a moment.For if he pleaded guilty, the fate that awaited him was the guillotine.So, from time to time, he cried out loudly: "I see you!" The meaning of this sentence was explained later by him.It is for the reasons stated here that when all the people around us think differently from us and therefore act differently from us, we don't behave in spite of our belief that the people around us are wrong. Moving is a difficult thing.The insistence of his loyal squires on private courtesy and humiliation is almost a necessary encouragement of confidence for a king who flees in masquerade, otherwise the king, in the end, would be ashamed of his own identity. doubt.

Section No.20
I emphasized this point in Chapter 2: the health of the body is of immense value, and it constitutes the first and most crucial element of our well-being.Here, I will talk about some general practices and principles for maintaining and improving your health.

When we are in good health, we can subject the whole or part of the body to burdens and stresses, and by this we can train ourselves to be strong, and accustom the body to resist all kinds of bad influences.But once there is an unhealthy part or whole of our body, then we have to adopt the opposite approach: to rest and rest the diseased part in every possible way; because a sick or weak body cannot bear any exercise.

Muscles are strengthened by intensive exercise, but nerves are weakened by torture.We may, therefore, engage in suitable labor to exercise the muscles, but the nerves should be spared from toil.Similarly, we should avoid the eyes being too strong, especially the reflected light; do not use the eyes in the dark, so as not to increase the burden on the eyes.Don't keep looking at small objects, either.Likewise, keep your ears from overly loud noises.The most important thing, though, is that we keep our brains free from all compulsive, incessant and untimely labor!We should therefore give the brain a rest while we digest food, for the life force that is brewing thought in the brain is now at work in the stomach and large intestine, preparing the chyme and chyme.For the same reason, we should give the brain a rest both during and after strenuous muscular activity, since motor and sensory nerves are much the same.Just as the pain we experience in our injured limbs actually originates in our brains, so it is our brains, not our hands and feet, that actually do the work and walk.That is to say, the part of the brain responsible for work and walking stimulates the nerves in the limbs and thereby moves the limbs by extending the nerves and the spinal cord.Therefore, the real source of the tiredness we experience in our extremities is in the brain, so that only the muscles that perform voluntary movements—that is, movements that are commanded by the brain—are fatigued, not muscles that work at our will, such as The heart will not feel tired.So if we force the brain to engage in intense physical activity and intense mental activity at the same time, or with short intervals in between, then, obviously, the brain will be damaged.This does not contradict or contradict the fact that we often feel a boost in energy at the start of our walk, or after a short walk, because the parts of the brain responsible for physical activity have not yet felt fatigued, On the other hand, slight muscle activity and the resulting increased breathing increases blood flow to the arteries of the brain and brings more oxygen.We must give the brain the necessary and sufficient amount of sleep to recuperate and recover.The need for sleep is like the clock needs to be wound (see Chapter 19 of the second chapter of "The World as Will and Appearance").The more evolved and active a person's brain is, the more sleep he needs.But more than necessary is a waste of time, for what is gained in the length of sleep is lost in the depth of quality (see the end of Chapter 19 of the second chapter of "The World as Will and Representation") [18 】.We should know that, roughly speaking, our mental activity is nothing but an organic operation of the brain, and that this organic activity and its rest are therefore like any other organic activity.Just as overworking the eyes damages the eyes, so overthinking damages the brain.It is true that the function of the stomach is to digest and the function of the brain to think.But it is wrong to think that an immaterial and simple soul resides in the human brain, constantly thinking, therefore never tired, and having no need of the world.This fallacy does mislead many people to do absurd things and lead to dull thinking.For example, Frederick the Great once tried to abstain from sleep altogether.Philosophy professors must stop promoting fallacies like these with their tailor-made question-and-answer guidebook philosophy.Even a practical eye can see the harm of this fallacy.We should accustom our thinking to be absolutely a physiological operation;At the same time, remember that all our bodily pains, diseases, and disorders, wherever they occur in the body, affect the mind and spirit.Reading Garbanese's book "The Relationship Between Human Physiology and Spirit" will be very helpful to understand what I said above.

Many great thinkers and scholars have suffered mental decline, childishness, and even insanity in their later years because they have neglected the points I am making here.For example, the famous British poets of this century, such as Sir Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Short, etc., in their later years, even after entering their 60s, their mental thoughts became weak, sluggish, and even demented.The explanation for this is undoubtedly that they were all tempted by high sums of money and regarded literature as a tool for making money.This tempts them to engage in mental labors that are unnatural.Whoever puts Picassus in the yoke of hard labor and whips the goddess of art will suffer the same punishment as those who are forced to accept the service of Venus Eros[19].I suspect that even Kant, after finally becoming famous, was overworked in the last years of his life.In this way, the last four years of his life became his second childhood.In contrast, the gentlemen of the Weimar court—Goethe, Weyland, Niebel, etc.—retained their mental faculties and spiritual activity well into old age.This is because they are not people who write for the money.The same is true of Voltaire.

Every month of the year has some direct, weather-independent effect on the state of our bodies, our health, and even our minds.

Part Three: Our Attitude Towards Others
Section No.20

To survive in this world, having certain foresight and forgiveness is in line with our goal of striving for happiness: the former helps us avoid harm and loss, and the latter saves us from personal disputes and quarrels.

Whoever lives among people should never reject and condemn anyone—even if he is the most despicable and ridiculous person, as long as this person is a work arranged and produced by nature.We should regard such a person as a fait accompli and immutable: this person obeys an eternal, metaphysical law, and can only be what he is.If we meet some really bad people, let's remember this saying: "There are always some strange birds in the woods." [20] If we don't do this, we are unjust, and we are equal to asking The man issued a challenge to a duel of life and death.The reason is that no one can change their true personality, which includes moral temperament, cognitive ability, appearance and temperament, and so on.If we utterly and utterly condemn a man for what he is, he has no choice but to see us as his enemies.For we recognize a man's right to exist only on the premise that he has to be reborn and become something quite different from the eternally immutable self.For this reason, to survive in crowds, we must allow others to exist with their own given individuality, whatever that individuality may be.What we care about is how to make a person develop his nature in the way allowed by the content and characteristics of nature. We should neither hope to change nor simply condemn others' nature.This is what the adage "live and let others live" means.Although this approach is reasonable, it is not easy to implement it.Happy is the man who can escape once and for all from that multitude.To learn to tolerate others, we might as well use dead things to exercise our patience first.Objects obstinately get in our way by mechanical and physical necessity.We have the opportunity to practice this every day.After this we can apply the patience gained from this exercise to man.We should accustom ourselves to the idea that other people defy our will, and hinder our actions, but they do so from a rigid necessity, which springs from their nature, just as much as the necessity by which bodies act. No difference.So getting angry at someone else's behavior is as foolish as getting angry at a rock that stands in our way.For many of us, our best thought is: "I'm not going to change them, I'm going to use them."

No.20 Section Two

Surprisingly, the sameness or great differences in spirit and temperament between people will be displayed very easily and quickly in people's conversations, even in every tiny detail, people can feel it.Although the two people are talking about some strange and general things, because the two people are not the same kind of people at all, almost every word said by one of them will make the other person displeased, and in most cases, even make him angry.However, every word spoken by two people of the same kind will gain some sympathy from the other.If two people have similar personalities, this mutual admiration will soon merge into a kind of perfect harmony, even complete agreement.This explains in the first place why mediocre people are so popular and can always find really good social partners without any effort.Such honest, loving, and upright people!But the exact opposite happens to extraordinary people; and the more remarkable this type of person is, the more pronounced it is.Therefore, when they are separated and alone, if they sometimes find in others a hair like themselves, they will really rejoice at it, even if it is so small!One is to another what the other is to one.The really great thinkers, like the eagle, build their nests on lonely heights.Secondly, we also understand why a person will soon find a person who has the same voice as himself-two people are attracted to each other as if by a magnet-because the souls with the same voice echo each other from afar.We can, of course, often see this happening among people of bad temper and mediocrity, for there are many of them.In contrast, people with excellent and outstanding qualifications are inherently rare.Thus, for example, in a crowd with the ambition of doing something, two outright rascals will soon recognize each other as if they had badges on their breasts, and come together at once to confer intrigue.In the same way, we might as well imagine—for this is impossible—a great company of sensible, thoughtful people, and two fools among them.These two people will be attracted to each other because of their similar smell.Soon, they'll be glad they've finally found at least one sensible, sensible person.Two such persons, especially two persons of rather inferior moral temperament and mental intelligence, can recognize each other at a glance, how eagerly they want to be together!They walked towards each other with such enthusiasm and joy, like old friends who have known each other for many years-it is indeed amazing to see it!The oddity even leads us to believe that these two people—according to the Buddhist theory of reincarnation—were friends in previous lives.

However, even when people are in high harmony with each other, moment-to-moment emotional differences between people can still create temporary dissonance and separation.Everyone's emotions are almost different, which is determined by a person's situation, physical condition, occupation, surrounding external environment, and thoughts that are rushing through his mind at that time.For this reason, dissonance arises even among the most harmonious people.To make the necessary adjustments to remove this hindrance, and to introduce some common and consistent temperature, can only be achieved by the highest civilization.The effect of the same mood on a social group can be seen from the fact that as long as there is some object—this may be some danger, some hope, or some news; A spectacle, a play, or music, etc.—affect a group of people in the same way at the same time, so that although there are many people, they will still be stimulated to communicate enthusiastically in a common and pleasant atmosphere. and genuinely participate.For objects such as these overwhelm individual interests and create a certain sense of commonality.Once there is a lack of such influence from objective things, then, under normal circumstances, only the individual subject can be resorted to.Drinking, therefore, is the customary means of introducing a general unanimous mood to a gathering group.Even tea and coffee serve the same purpose.

The ever-changing moods of individuals can easily bring a certain inconsistency to a group.But it is this inconsistency that partly explains why, after our memories have been freed from disturbing influences such as emotions—though these disturbances are fleeting—the people retained in our memories are idealized, and sometimes even It was deified.The effect of memory is like the condenser lens in a pinhole camera—it takes in the scene and creates a picture that is much more beautiful than the original.One of the ways in which this advantage may be obtained, and to be beautified by others, is to avoid meeting people as much as possible, for although the memory takes a long time to complete its beautification, the work of beautification can begin immediately.Accordingly, it is wise to revisit our acquaintances and close friends at considerable intervals, for when we see them again we can notice that people's memories have begun to work.

No.20 Three Sections

It is impossible for every man to see beyond himself--I mean: what every man sees in another is equal to that man's self, for every man can understand and understand only with his own intellect. understand others.If the man's intellectual qualities are of the inferior class, then the thoughts, wits, even the greatest natural intellects of other people have no effect on him, and he is insensitive to the level of thought possessed by others.In others he sees nothing but his own lower faults, that is, defects in his character, temperament, and all.Therefore, others to him are just a combination of parts that can be disassembled.Advanced mental abilities are to him what color and shadow are to a blind man, they do not exist.A person who lacks spiritual thoughts cannot see the spiritual thoughts that others have.The evaluation of the value of a thing is actually the result of the combined effect of the new value of the thing itself and the knowledge of the evaluator.It can be inferred from this that when we speak to others, we also lower ourselves to their level, because our relative advantages disappear, and even the necessary condescensions of our own are unrecognized.Since the quality of most people is so low, and therefore so vulgar, we can know that it is impossible for us to talk to them without being ordinary and vulgar at the same time (here we can use the law of electric conduction) as a metaphor).At this time, we can fully understand the true meaning of the words "condescending, degrading".In fact, we would like to avoid all these people, because the only aspects with which we can communicate are those shameful elements of our nature.We will also understand that there is only one way we can make our minds clear to those fools and idiots, and that is, don't talk to such people.Of course, a lot of people socially feel like a superb dancer arriving at a dance floor, but seeing crippled people everywhere—whom could he dance with?
No.20 Four Sections

When a man is waiting for someone or for something to be done, that is, when he is sitting with nothing to do, if he does not immediately take up any object that is at hand--cane, knife, fork, etc.- —Knock rhythmically, then this person can gain my respect, because this person is at least likely to be thinking about things.But such a person is rare.For many, watching completely replaces thinking.They're trying to make noise to feel their presence—that is, when there's no cigar around him that could serve the same purpose.For the same reason, these people keep their eyes and ears open all the time to watch what is going on around them.

No.20 Five Sections

La Rochefoucauld said very pertinently: It is difficult to respect a person very much while loving him very much.Therefore, we can only choose to either gain the respect of others or their love.Other people's affection for us is always selfish, although the reasons for this vary from person to person.Furthermore, the reasons we are liked by others do not make us proud.Generally speaking, the degree to which we are popular with others is equivalent to our lowering our demands on others' thoughts and feelings, and we must do so out of sincerity, not hypocrisy, nor out of tolerance for others, For tolerance is rooted in contempt.Consider the true words of Helvetia, "The depth of thought necessary to please us is precisely the depth of our own thought," from which we can draw conclusions.With regard to the esteem we are accorded by others, the situation is quite the opposite.The respect others have for us is something we force on other people against their will, and so they usually keep their own respect under wraps.The respect of others can give us greater inner satisfaction, because it is closely related to our value; but other people's love for us is not directly connected with our value, because love comes from subjective, while respect comes from objective.Of course, the love of others is more useful to us.

No.20 six sections

Most people are inseparable from the "I" of the subject, and they are basically not interested in anything other than themselves.It follows from this that what other people say immediately reminds them of themselves, and that a word that someone says inadvertently, which has only a slight reference to themselves personally, attracts their whole attention and occupies their energies; There is no energy left to understand the object aspect of the conversation.In the same way, reasoning and disputing, as soon as they conflict with their interests and vanity, can no longer produce any effect.As a result, these people are easily distracted; they easily feel insulted and hurt by others.In discussing matters objectively with such persons, we must be as careful as possible and avoid bringing into the conversation anything that might relate to the dignified and sensitive man before us, or which might be detrimental to him. content, because they take the words, and only the words, to heart.Although they are insensitive and ignorant of the insights, quips, and finer points of other people's conversations, they are ignorant of anything that can hurt their fragile vanity-though only fairly indirectly, even if they are both. Almost irrelevant - they are hypersensitive to any talk that shows a bad side of their cherished selves.They are sensitive and vulnerable, like a puppy whose paw we have accidentally stepped on; so we have to endure its barking.Or, they are like a patient with wounds and lumps all over his body, and we can only be careful not to touch them.Some people even get to the point where they feel insulted if someone shows understanding and thought in a conversation, or doesn't completely hide it.At the time, though, they would hide their feelings.Afterwards, that inexperienced person can only ruminate in vain on how he offended these people.For the same reason, however, it is easy to flatter and win over these people.Therefore, in most cases, these people's judgment is terrible. It is just some kind of speech or confession that favors their political party or class, and it is not objective and fair at all.All this is due to the fact that in these people the will so far outweighs the cognition that their feeble intellects are so wholly in the service of the will that they cannot escape it even for a moment.

Astrology furnishes an excellent proof of this despicable quality of man which is all about his ego, and everything starts from it.Because everything starts from the self, people associate everything with themselves, and associate every thought directly with themselves.Astrology is to link the movement of celestial bodies with man's miserable self, and to link the stars in the sky with the mundane and ugly things in the world.This is actually the case from ancient times (see, for example, Stobias).

No.20 Seven Sections

If some absurd and perverted opinions appear in front of the public, or if absurd and false things are written into written works and are welcomed by the public, or at least they have not been questioned or refuted, we should not despair and think that Things will end there.On the contrary, we should know this fact and comfort ourselves: In the future, people will gradually clarify, discuss, think, and examine these viewpoints or works.In most cases, people end up making the right judgment.So, after a time--the length of which depends on the difficulty of the particular matter--nearly everyone at last sees what a clear mind could have seen at the first glance.Of course, in the meantime, we have to be a little patient.It is like this with a man of good opinion and with a deluded and deceived multitude: his watch tells the right time, but all the clock towers in the city tell the wrong time, and only he himself knows the time. Know the right time.But what's the use?All are at the mercy of the wrong clock tower, even those who know the man's watch tells the only correct time.

(End of this chapter)