120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 121

Chapter 7 Section 7 Live comfortably

[French] Montaigne
When I dance, I dance, and when I sleep, I sleep (but many people always want to sleep when they dance, and dance when they sleep).

Even if I am walking alone in a beautiful garden, if my mind turns to something unrelated to the walk for a moment, I will quickly withdraw my thoughts, making me think about the garden, the pleasure of being alone, and thinking about myself.

Nature urges us to perform activities to satisfy our own needs, and this activity brings us pleasure. Motherly nature is concerned about this. It pushes us to satisfy the needs of reason and desire. To break its rules is to violate It makes sense.

I know that Caesar and Alexander, even at the height of their activities, still fully enjoyed the natural, that is, the necessary and legitimate pleasures of life.I would like to point out that this is not to relax the mind, but to strengthen it, for it takes a great deal of courage to subjugate vigorous activity, hard thought, to the habits of daily life.

They believed that enjoying the pleasures of life was their normal activity, while war was the extraordinary one.They are wise to think so, but we are fools.We say: "He's done nothing in his life." Or: "I didn't do anything today..." What!Haven't you come to life?This is not only the basic activity, but also the most glossy of our activities. "If I could have handled the big things, I could have shown my talents." If you know how to think about your life and how to organize it, then you will do the most important things.

The expression and function of nature do not require unusual circumstances.It is manifested in many ways, even in the dark, as on a stage without a curtain.

Our duty is to adjust our habits, not to compile books; to order our manners, not to fight wars and expand territories.Our most heroic and glorious career is to live comfortably, and all other things, such as governing, political affairs, and building industries, are at best embellishments and accessories of this career.

【Together with you】

Don't think that doing vigorous things is the most glorious and proud thing.In fact, cherishing the sunshine every day, treating every kind of life kindly, living every day happily, and letting the heart wander in a poetic atmosphere is the best understanding of life and the most meaningful life.Roses stand in every corner with a moving seriousness, which I admire very much, because they get rid of extravagance and frivolity, and each tries to shine its own light.

(End of this chapter)