We start learning with our first breath, and from what I can tell, it’s a pattern that continues. Unless you close yourself off from it, learning for people happens to infinity and beyond.
I like to learn, though we all have different things that grab us. I like this, and you like that, which has been true since it all began. It’s a good thing; it’s how the pool of knowledge grows deep and wide.
For instance, excluding the young and new, we all know not to lick cold metal. [i] We’re able to profit from the lessons another went through without acquiring that information firsthand. Good thing – I don’t fancy a bleeding or stumpy tongue.
Life lessons aren’t always about the practical and mundane, however vital those lessons may be. We collect philosophical life lessons as well, though we’re slower at picking those up.
I remember my parents trying to teach me this thing or that. I also remember not listening. Karma has a nasty sense of humour because the wheel spun ‘round, and now I’m the parent whose encyclopedic knowledge of life is going to waste.
Ah, well. Our species seems to learn better when we do it the hard way.
Amor fati is my life lesson number one. It’s gained in popularity recently: the shorthand meme that condenses Friedrich Nietzsche’s thoughts on the matter into “love your fate” pops up regularly on social media feeds. I prefer expanded descriptions like the one offered by Epictetus:
Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happen the way it happens: then you will be happy.
The difference is subtle but essential. Then again, Nietzsche’s thoughts on the matter weren’t simple either. We lose much with soundbite culture: summations aren’t equivalencies.
“My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it – all idealism is mendaciousness in the face of what is necessary – but love it.” – F. Nietzsche.
Life lesson number two: easier isn’t always better.
[i] I will also exclude people who’ve never experienced cold. They likely have lessons about blistering heat about which I’m ignorant.
From Famine to Feast. 
Heat is easy to deal with- wear a lot of sunscreen, eat ice cream, just don’t forget to drink lots of and lots of fluids!
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But never wear shorts on a metal slide (slippery dip) on a really hot day! It’s going to hurt.
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Yup, this one too!
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Reblogged this on Notes and commented:
Totally disagree with that. Unlearning some (if not all) life lessons is the key to truly successful, happy and a peaceful life. For example, if a woman cheats on her man, the man should not start doubting every other woman. Give her a benefit of doubt until she actually commits it. Some people walk on planet Earth with negativity (learned from others) stamped on their foreheads and fate. Nothing learnt from such losers is worth keeping. Simply unlearn!
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I like this idea: learn, but only in the specific, and unlearn the bad
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I’ll have whatever Freddy s having. 🍸🍸🍸
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I’m with you on that. I find it somewhat hard to stick to, but it’s definitely a goal I strive towards. Heat warning? I get headaches. Why? I’m still conducting my research, but it seems that it happens either when I’m just rushing around and not enjoying myself, or when I’m enjoying myself too much. I guess I need to find the golden middle.
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The golden mean, also proposed by Aristotle. You’re a natural philosopher. He called it the midpoint exactly between excess and deficiency 🙂
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Bloody and stumpy tongue…hilarious 😂!
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😁
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Easier isn’t always better but it probably hurts less.
Also when our children ignore the advice from our hard earned lessons, how inappropriate is it to think I told you so?
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I find I don’t do it with the big stuff, but it slips out with the small and funny. Backup toilet paper is always a good idea 😀
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I’d never heard of amor fati, but I love the idea of it—seems similar to karma/fate.
My life lesson that I passed on to my son: speak only when you have a question or something of value to add. When he was a teenager, he stated that I knew everything. I told him to pay attention to when I wasn’t speaking—it was more often than he thought. When I speak, I speak with authority. He took that lesson to heart, and now lives by the same credo.
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That’s a wonderful lesson. I love too that it was explicit.
I encountered amor fati when I stumbled across Stoic philosophy: it has good sound bites 😊
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