Life's Philosophy: Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World

8. The Art of Living: To Do Little Things in a Big Way

The Art of Living: ToDo Little Things in a Big Way Many older people have a great ability to take difficulties in their stride, whileconcentrating on what is important in life. Many young and middle-aged people are late in realizing this, because they do not take the time seriously to questiontheir priorities. The great consideration is not exactly what one spends one's time on. The important thing is how one commits oneself, and what strengthone devotes to it. In a sense, the art of living is to be able to do little things in a big way. I feel justified not only in accepting life but in paying homage to it. However, as long as human beings cannot manage to abolish torture and eventhe more extreme kinds ofpoverty, there isa hollow ring when those, like me, who are not afflicted by such things talk about the silverlining, about life's many opportunities for happiness, or about how grateful "we" ought to be. For tens of thousands of people, their only wish is to die. I do not believe that human nature blocks the means of abolishing torture and extreme poverty. If we examine the conditions for a rich life with simple means, we find no closed doors, but many doors are difficult to open. We must exert ourselves to push the obstacles out of the way. Antoine Nicolas de Condorcet (1743-94), a 160 8 leading philosopher of the Enlightenment, has constantly been ridiculed for maintaining that there are no limits to the perfectibility of humankind. In my view we know of no definite limits. We need a new Enlightenment with a faith in considerable changes where all sides of our industrial society are concerned, and consequently a belief in the solution ofthe problems ofwar, poverty, and the environmental crisis. But the two former have been with us for thousands of years, and we cannot expect the next century to bring total victoryin those arenas. This applies also to our new goals, to preservethe richness and diversity oflife on Earth. No one cansay how badly things will turn out in the next century. Nonetheless, the future of humankind depends on which small contributions each single one of us can make here and now. Something Good May Come Out of Something Bad The expression "the art ofliving" has along history and aplethora of usages; yet it plays a modest role when we talk about how we ought to live. Those who are accomplished in the art of living are symptomatically regarded as bons vivants—"good-lifers"—frivolous people who cheerfully help themselves to wine, sex, and song. To maintain that a bon vivant, whether a man or a woman, is ethically serious and responsible would cause astonishment. I propose that the term "the art of living" be used in a way that makes it a worthy goal to be a bon vivant. We talk about the art of cooking, of conversation, of being a good loser, of being satisfied with what one has. In likemanner, the art oflivingmaybe concerned with the art of coping with the many hurdles of life. The word art, and the related word artist, are unfortunate to the extent that they are associated with membership in an elite. I am using the word art in a sense that assumes that to practice the art of living is not elitist, not restricted to a narrow little circle. I interpret being good at the art of living as having the ability To Do Little Things in a Big Way 161 to lead a life characterized by happiness—without reducing the chances of others to do the same. And a life may easily deserve to be called happy even if it is marked by a great many horrible events and sorrowful moments. There are many who can talk about the positive changes in life that occurred asthe long-term effect of something unpleasant that happened. It is different with people who have an open wound for life after horrible events, and who are never the same after something terrible has happened. Some people are especially lucky and privileged in their upbringing . This is connected with the surroundings, chances they had from infancy, talents that appeared earlyand were developed, and so on. Of others it is said that they had a miserable start, that they were unlucky in everything. Fate deals very differently with each of us...