WORLDLY WISDOM
A friend recommended Baltasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Gracian was a Spanish scholar of the 17th century who set forth a series of maxims for ethical action. From time to time I'll write about one of his maxims. The first one which caught my eye was "A Person Born in the Right Age". Gracian says that things have their seasons and that not everyone has the times they deserve. That is, you can be the wrong person for the times you live in, your virtues may not be admired, your skills may not be rewarded, you may be out of step with the times. We often speak of "right place at the right time" and "timing is everything". We're speaking of the same issue: The most fortunate people are those who, without particular effort or insight, find themselves with exactly the right opportunity, with a perfect fit for their skills, personality, appearance or experience. We all know people like that but most of us aren't so lucky. So what do we do?
Gracian also provides the answer to that question: Wisdom is timeless, good behavior is right for all times. To use another modern formulation, if we're not lucky we have to be good. If we don't find precisely the right job, career, companion, housing, school, hobby, we can still be good, in all senses of the word. We can do the best we can at whatever we're doing, we can apply whatever skills we have to our job or career, we can enjoy our hobbies, we can value our companions. we can appreciate our housing. But most importantly, we can be a good person.
The message of Gracian, written hundreds of years ago, helps us today. He correctly wrote that ethical, honest, good behavior makes all times the right times. Doing our best works everyplace. No matter how out of place we may feel, living to our own standards makes things right, puts us in the right place, creates a world which is always the best. Don't worry about external acceptance or reward, the only thing which counts is how we feel about ourselves.
7-17-00
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