Even the kings sit on their bums - living a passionate ordinary life.
Michel de Montaigne Philosophy.
This famous philosopher from renaissance period from France is the one who popularized applying philosophy to live an ordinary life during his era (of course apart from Thales of Meletus). What use of philosophy is if it is not used to make lives better? Not just highly successful ones, but quite ordinary ones. If philosophers who entangle in intellectual disputes about origins of human existence just quarrel with their wives the moment they step into their homes, what is the point of the philosophy they preach? So, de Montaigne approached philosophy in a different framework, closer to yours and mine, the ordinary folk.
He often asked himself, "What do I know?" to approach an intellectual humility to repeatedly reshape his own philosophy. This indeed tackled the problem of dunning Kruger effect, where you automatically assume intellectual superiority, when in reality only you know a little. So, he kept the skepticism alive by constantly trying to know himself. Learn from other cultures, and more importantly, trying to live the ordinary life he already has, than creating superior means and ends to it.
“What do I know?” — Intellectual humility.
Know yourself — Your own experience is worth investigating.
Skepticism — Human reasoning has limitations.
Tolerance — Other cultures and people may have perspectives different from yours.
Live the life you actually have — Philosophy should help us live, not merely theorize.
Even the kings sit on their bums.
Even the kings when they want to sit, on their thrones have to use their bums for support. This just closes the gap between an ordinary life and a royal life. We all are born with human weakness, bums, and there is no way out from our limitations. We possess bodies prone to pain and sickness, we have constant hunger, and thirst. Our mental status fluctuates daily with no apparent reason, and we cannot function like machines, needs a rest now and again. If you'd be honest these ordinary human days are hardest to tackle. Consider an ordinary Tuesday, where you have to go to work and come home tired. Compare this with a day on a vacation, action packed with lot of movement and adrenalin. Spending the ordinary day skillfully and happily would be hard, as we need to figure out our own philosophy to do that. How come one go onto doing that? It doesn't really matter you are a king a farmer or a CEO.
1440 minutes - awareness is the key.
A day has 1440 minutes. Most of them are very ordinary. If we just consider one minute, that will pass too quickly. But how many of yesterday minutes you were aware? one? two? five? If you were not aware, where have you been living all day yesterday. It doesn't matter what task you are doing, if you'd like to live a fulfilled ordinary life, you will have to be aware of where your awareness goes. What it felt like walking down the road, to the bus stop. What did you notice during the bus ride? How busy was it at work? When exactly did you feel hungry? Did you feel the taste of your lunch? It is better if you could just stop and take a note of your thoughts. Do not underestimate the power of living an ordinary life, as that is a gift by nature to every one of us. Maybe today is a good day to finally enjoy the life you have, more than the life you speculate of having.
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