Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven Enthusiasm

In this chapter, I intend to discuss what I believe to be the most common and distinctive mark of the happy person: enthusiasm. Perhaps the best way to understand what enthusiasm means is to observe the various behaviors of people when they sit down to eat, for some people eating is simply a nuisance; Not interested, they have eaten delicacies from mountains and seas, maybe the meal is like this.They never know what hunger is until it has become an intolerable emotion.But even then, they see eating as merely a daily routine, something that is simply dictated by the society in which they live.Eating, like all other things, is tiresome, but it is no use complaining, for there is nothing less tiresome.The next section is the sick, who eat to accomplish a task, because the doctor tells them that some nourishment is necessary in order to restore health.There are also some people who are gourmets. Before eating, they have high hopes, but they find that none of the dishes are cooked enough.There is also a kind of glutton, who pounces on food like a ghost, eats too much, and grows too fat to snore.Finally, there is another kind of people who have a strong appetite before eating, are satisfied with the food in front of them, and don't stop until they are full of belches.Before the banquet of life, people have the same attitude towards the good things that life offers.Happy people correspond to the last kind of eaters.Passion is to life what hunger is to food.The anorexic corresponds to the ascetic, the vigilante corresponds to the voluptuous, and the gourmand corresponds to the fastidious, who blames half the joys of life on lack of beauty.Surprisingly, all of these types, with the possible exception of the cum geeks, look down on people with good appetites and instead consider themselves superior.To eat because they are hungry, or to love life because it is colorful and interesting, seems vulgar to them, and from the heights of their fantasies they look down with contempt on those they consider simple-minded.I personally do not share this view.To me, release from the state of obsession means a kind of malady. This kind of malady will inevitably arise in certain circumstances, but in any case, when it occurs, it should be cured as soon as possible. It should not be regarded as a higher form of wisdom.If one person likes leatherberries and another doesn't, what is the advantage of the latter?There is no pure abstraction and impersonal proof of whether herbal poisons are good or bad. People who like to eat them say they taste great, and those who don't like them say they are tasteless.However, the person who loves grass poison has one more kind of happiness than the person who does not eat grass poison. In this regard, the former has more fun in life, and he is more perfectly adapted to the other person who has to live in it. world.What is true in this small instance is also true in larger matters.People who love football games are better than those who don't, and people who like to read books are far better than those who hate books, because reading brings much more opportunities for happiness than enjoying football games .The wider a man's interests, the more opportunities for happiness he has, and the less likely he is to be manipulated by fate, because even if one interest is lost, he can still turn to another.Life is short and we can't be interested in everything, but it's always good to be interested in as many things as possible that will fill our days to the fullest.We are all prone to the disease of the introspective man, who focuses his thoughts on the emptiness within, while the world presents him with all manner of gestures.We must not take the melancholy of the introspective youth too seriously.

Once upon a time there were two sausage-making machines dedicated to turning pork into the best sausages, one of which kept up its passion for pork and produced countless sausages; the other said: "Pork and What am I doing? My own work is far more interesting and amazing than any pork." It rejected pork and turned to work on its own internal structure, which shuts down once its natural food is deprived, and it The more I studied it, the more empty and stupid the interior seemed to it, with all the parts that had worked so beautifully motionless.It doesn't understand what these machine parts can do.This second sausage maker is like someone who has lost his enthusiasm, while the first one is like someone who has kept his enthusiasm for life.The mind is also a strange machine, which can combine the materials it acquires in the most amazing ways, but is impotent if it lacks materials from the external world.The difference between the mind and the gut machine is this: since events can become our experience only through our interest in them, the mind must acquire the material for itself; if events do not interest us, we do not use them .Therefore, a person who focuses inward will feel that everything is not worthy of his attention, and a person who focuses outward, when he occasionally examines his soul, will find that the extremely rich and interesting components are analyzed and analyzed. Reorganized into beautiful, instructive form.

The forms of enthusiasm are countless.It may be remembered that Sherlock Holmes once chanced upon a hat lying in the middle of the street, and picked it up.After looking it over, he said that the owner of the hat had ruined his career by drunkenness, and that his wife was no longer as in love with him as she used to be.Such ordinary objects can interest him so much that life can never be dull for a man of his stature.How many different things attract attention during a walk in the country.One person may be interested in birds, another in grass, another in geology, another in farming, and so on.If you're interested, any of the above will be interesting, as will the others.As long as a person is interested in one of them, he is better adapted to the world than a person who is not interested.

In the same way, how amazing are the differences in the attitudes of different people towards their own kind!On a long train journey, one person will turn a blind eye to his fellow passengers, while the other will generalize them, analyze their character, and make a fairly accurate judgment of their condition, and he may even learn about it. Personal privacy of several people.Differences in how people make sense of others are similarly reflected in how people feel about others.Some people always find all people overwhelming, while others develop friendly feelings quickly and easily for those they come in contact with unless there is some obvious reason for them Other feelings.Take travel again: some people will travel through several countries, but they will always stay in the best hotels, eat the same food as they eat at home, meet the same rich people they met at home, talk The same topics they talked about at the pride table.Once these people go home, the only thing they feel is a sense of relief that the annoyance of expensive travel is over.And others, no matter where they go, they are looking for those unique things, and get to know the typical local people, observe anything with historical or social significance, taste the local food, learn the local customs and language, go home Bring a new joy to the winter night.

In a variety of situations, people who are enthusiastic about life are superior to those who are not.Even those unpleasant experiences have benefits for those who love life.I was delighted to see a group of Chinese and a Sicilian village, though I cannot say that my heart was at the time extremely happy.The adventurous man relishes all such unpleasant experiences as shipwrecks, mutinies, earthquakes, and great fires, provided they do not endanger his health.Taking the example of an earthquake, they would exclaim, "That's what an earthquake is like!" They were happy because it was something new and increased their understanding of the world.It would not be correct to think that these people are not at the mercy of fate, for if they lose their health, it is likely that they will lose their enthusiasm at the same time—but not necessarily so.I've known people who suffered for years and months, but remained passionate about life until the last moment.Some illnesses destroy enthusiasm, others don't.I don't know if biochemists can distinguish between these two types of diseases now, maybe when biochemistry has made more progress we will all have the opportunity to take those pills that will ensure that we are interested in everything.But until that day comes, we will have to rely on commonsense observations of life to determine what makes some people interested in everything and others in nothing.

Passion is sometimes generalized and sometimes specialized.It may sometimes become extremely specialized.Polow's readers may remember the character in La Da Geluoye who lost his lovely wife and once felt that his life was extremely boring.But he became fascinated by the Chinese instructions on the vegetable cans and crates. After learning Chinese through the help of a French Chinese in grammar, he was gradually able to read these signs.In this way, he acquired a new joy in life, although he never used the Chinese knowledge he acquired for other purposes.I have known people who devoted themselves to searching for all the heresies about Gnosticism; others whose chief pleasure was tidying up.Correction of Hobbes' manuscripts and earlier editions of his works.It is absolutely impossible to know in advance what a person will be interested in, but most people can have a strong interest in this or that thing, and once this interest is aroused, their life will be changed. Will be freed from monotony and dullness.But a very specialized interest, as a source of happiness, is less satisfying than a general zest for life, since it hardly fills all one's time, and there is always the danger of: He may one day fully comprehend that particular thing which has become his passion, and therefore be uninterested.

The reader may recall that among the various diners we have listed are the Punggus, whom I do not intend to admire.The reader may think that the enthusiastic person whom we have so sung so much about is not so distinctly different from the womanizer.Now, we have to start making a clear distinction between the two types. It is well known that the ancients regarded humility as a virtue.Under the influence of romanticism and the French Revolution, this view was abandoned by many, and the overriding passion was praised, even if it was destructive and anti-social, just like Byronic heroes. the same as you have.Yet the ancients were evidently right that in a perfect life there must be a certain balance between the various activities, no one of which should be pushed to such an extreme that the others cannot be performed.The valley-shapers, who give up all other pleasures and seek only the gratification of their appetites, greatly reduce the total happiness in their lives. Not only the pleasures of eating and drinking suffer from this excess, but sometimes other pleasures too.Empress Josephine is a cum sucker when it comes to clothes.At first, although Napoleon complained about it, he still paid for her. In the end, Napoleon had to tell her that she must learn to be temperate, and he could only pay her reasonable bills in the future.When Josephine received a bill, she felt overwhelmed at first, but she quickly came up with a plan.She went to the Minister of Military Affairs and asked to pay the bill for her from the military funds.The military minister was afraid that the queen would lose his military post, so he had to do so. As a result, France lost Genoa.Some books say so, though I don't want to prove the truth of the story here.Whether this story is true or exaggerated, it is enough to show us how far a woman with a conditional penchant for clothes can go!Alcoholism and nymphomania are the best examples of their kind.The origin of these things is quite clear. All our different inclinations and desires must fit into the general framework of life, and if they are to be sources of happiness, they must be in harmony with the requirements of health, with the emotions of those we love. Consistent with the society in which we live.Some strong passions allow one to indulge in them endlessly without exceeding the limit, and others do not.Take the example of a man who loves to play chess.If the person is a bachelor with independent means, then he does not have to limit this strong hobby.But if he has a wife and a few, but has no ability to support himself, then he will definitely impose restrictions on this.Even if alcoholics and sluts had no social restraint, they would be unwise from a self-interested point of view, because their tastes run counter to the requirements of human health, and short-term pleasures leave only endless pain .Any different taste, if it is not to be a source of pain, must be framed by certain things: health; a general view of one's abilities; Adequate income for necessities; the most fundamental social obligations, such as the maintenance of wife and children; and so on.A man who sacrifices all of these particular things in order to play chess is fundamentally as bad as an alcoholic.But perhaps the only reason why we do not condemn such chess fans seriously is that such people are rare, and only highly intelligent people can be infatuated with such advanced intellectual entertainment.The Greek maxim of temperance can actually be applied to these matters, which says that a chess fan who works during the day and thinks of the board at night is lucky, but a chess fan who leaves work to play chess all day is lucky. It's an unrestrained performance.According to the book, when Tolstoy's young soul was not regenerated, he was awarded the Army Cross for his bravery on the battlefield.But on the day of the award, he was so addicted to a game of chess that he decided not to attend the award ceremony.It is very difficult to say that Tolstoy was at fault in this matter, since it really did not matter to him whether he received the Army Medal or not.But if a small person does this, it may be a stupid thing.

As a qualification to the maxims presented above, it should be admitted that some actions are so esteemed that it is justified to sacrifice everything for them.A man who sacrifices his life in defense of his country is not condemned, even if he leaves a wife and children penniless and destitute.Nor can one accuse a man who makes his family miserable by diving into experiments in anticipation of some great science or invention—provided he succeeds in the end.But if he didn't succeed with the discovery or invention he expected, he would be called a crank.This seems unfair, since in this kind of enterprise no one knows in advance success and failure.During the first millennium of the Christian era a man who left his family behind in pursuit of a saintly life was admired, although even today it is felt that he should have provided something for his family.

I think there has always been some deep psychological gap between the hungry and the healthy.A man who has overdeveloped a single desire often has a deep-seated trouble, and he is always seeking to escape from an inescapable fear.This situation is obvious in the alcoholic.Such people drink to forget, and would not find it happier to be drunk than to be sane if phantom terrors did not exist in their lives.As a legendary Chinese said: "Either you don't drink at all, or you get drunk." This is a typical example of excessive and single addiction.In this addiction, it is not pleasure that is pursued, but oblivion.However, the oblivion acquired by alcoholism is quite different from the amnesia acquired by the development of desirable talents.Paulo's friend, who taught himself Chinese, also sought oblivion in order to get rid of the grief of losing his wife, but his oblivion came from a harmless activity.Not only that, but this activity enriched his wisdom and insight.In addition to this form of avoidance, other forms are not worth advocating.Those who forget through drinking, gambling, or any other form of unprofitable pleasure often backfire.Indeed, there are all sorts of intermediate situations.What can we say about a crazy person who is so bored with life that he takes an adventure on a plane or on a mountaintop?We should admire him if his adventures were for some common good; but if they were not, we would be compelled to regard him a little more than the gambler and drunkard.

True passion, not the kind that actually seeks to forget, is a part of human nature, unless it is killed by misfortune.Little children are interested in everything they see and hear; the world is full of novelty for them; knowledge, but that process of familiarity with the thing that calls their attention.As long as they are healthy, small animals will maintain this enthusiasm even when they grow up.A cat shut up in a strange house will not lie down and rest until it has sniffed every corner of the house without smelling a mouse.A man who has never suffered a great setback will retain his natural interest in the outer world; and so long as he maintains this interest, he will find life full of joy, if his liberty is not unduly restricted.Much of the loss of enthusiasm in civilized societies is due to the restriction of liberty which is an essential element of our way of life.Primitive man, when he is hungry, hunts to satisfy his hunger, and this, of course, is at the mercy of immediate impulses.A person who goes to work on time each morning is fundamentally driven by the same impulse, which is the need to survive.In the latter case, however, the impulse does not act directly or immediately, but indirectly through abstract words, beliefs, and wills.When a man goes to work in the morning, he is not hungry because he has just finished breakfast, he just knows that hunger will come again, and that work alone is the means of relieving this future hunger.Impulse is irregular, but habit in a civilized society is regular.With primitive man even collective activity (if there is such an activity at all) is spontaneous and impulsive.When the tribe is going to fight, the sound of gongs and drums will arouse the military might, arouse fighting spirit, and motivate all members to engage in necessary activities.The modern impulse cannot be treated in the same way.Aboriginal music cannot be used to motivate stewards, drivers and signalmen when a train must start at a certain moment.They must do their jobs simply because they have to be done; that is, their motives are indirect, and they have no impact on the activity itself.activities, and only focus on the rewards of activities.Much of social life suffers from the same drawbacks.People talk to each other, not out of any desire to talk, but only in order to obtain the ultimate benefit originally expected from cooperation.In life, the impulses of civilized man are always bound: a man who happens to be happy cannot dance in the street; and when he is sad, he cannot sit on the steps and weep so as not to hinder the traffic of pedestrians.When he was young, his freedom was restricted at school; when he was an adult, his freedom was restricted at work;All this, since constant restraint produces weariness and ennui, makes passion unsustainable.Nevertheless, a civilized society cannot exist without some degree of restraint on spontaneous impulses, which produce only the simplest social cooperation and not those highly complex cooperations required by modern economic organization.In order to remove these obstacles to enthusiasm, a man needs a strong body and vigorous energy, or, if he is lucky, a kind of work that interests him.Statistically, all civilized nations have seen a steady improvement in their health over the past hundred years, but whether the same has been true of individual energy is less certain.I doubt, though, that the healthy people of today are as physically strong as they were before.Since this problem is largely a social one, I am not going to delve into it here, but it also has a personal or psychological side; discussed.There are those who, despite all the obstacles of civilized life, struggle to maintain their passions, while others do so only when they have been freed from inner conflicts which consume so much energy.Enthusiasm requires more energy than necessary work, and this in turn requires the smooth operation of the mental machinery.I will discuss this more in later chapters.

Among the women, though better now than before, their enthusiasm was greatly dampened by a false sense of self-respect.It is often thought that it is repugnant for a woman to take an obvious interest in a man, and that it is not very popular to show too much public vigor.In order to learn not to be interested in men, they often learn not to be interested in anything, or in any behavior other than a legitimate one.To teach a passive and evasive attitude towards life is undoubtedly to inculcate something injurious to enthusiasm, and to encourage a certain preoccupation with oneself which is characteristic of the most respectable woman, who has no This is especially true for educated women.They are indifferent to sports that interest ordinary people and indifferent to politics.They have a serious attitude towards men, and a secret hostility towards women.They are convinced that they are more decent and well-behaved than other women.They boasted of their solitude, that is to say, their indifference to their fellow men, which seemed to them a virtue.Of course, one cannot blame them for this, because they are only accepting the long-inherited moral teaching related to women.But, being sympathetic victims of a repressive system, they have not been able to see the evil of that system, and for such women all ungenerosity is a virtue and all generosity a vice.In their own social circles they engage in joy-killing activities, and in the political arena they favor oppressive regulations.Happily, such people are becoming less and less common, but far from the goals that those living in liberated circles claim.If anyone doubts this statement, I advise him to take a lodging in one of the houses to let, and to keep an eye out for the landlady in the search, and he will find that the women have a sense of feminine virtue, This consciousness essentially involves the ruthless destruction of zest for life.He will find that the result of all this is narrow-mindedness and intolerance.There is little difference between sound masculine virtues and sound female virtues, at least not in the sense that tradition says.For women as for men, passion is the secret to happiness and health.