"Knowledge and courage. These are the elements of greatness. Because they are immortal they bestow immortality. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A person without knowledge is in a world without light. Wisdom and strength are the eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile." - Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
There is a little book that always I carry in my pocket. It is Baltasar Gracián's masterpiece, The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Mine is the Shamabhala Pocket Classics version, perhaps no longer in print (in which Baltasar is spelled Balthasar). It's an accessible translation under a very small cover, and my personal copy is nearly falling apart from wear. The book is high-minded common sense for those who are receptive. It fortifies against the private train wreck of life. To this end, Gracián refreshes our goodness, pointing the way to prudence and useful knowledge. Always he emphasizes the importance of knowledge. "Knowledge and good intentions," he wrote. "Together they ensure continued success. A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will is always an unnatural monster. A wicked will poisons all perfections; helped by knowledge it only ruins by greater subtlety. It is a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without sense is double folly."
According to Gracián there exists a complementary relationship between intelligence, goodness and knowledge. One virtue opens the gate to another; each strengthens the others, and application guarantees the whole. But knowledge, says Gracián, "has a purpose. Wise people arm themselves with tasteful and elegant erudition - a practical and expert knowledge of what is going on, not common gossip. They possess a copious store of wise and witty sayings and of noble deeds, and know how to employ them at the right moment." Such is an elevated conception of what education ought to be and no longer is.
It is important, of course, to know people. In everyday business we are called upon to estimate a person's reliability or skill, to grasp motives and hidden agendas. "Have resort to primary motives," noted Gracián, "which are not always the highest but more often the lowest part of [someone's] nature because there are more dispositions badly organized than well." Some people are dangerous, and some are merely a waste of time. "Prize intensity more than extent," wrote Gracián. "Excellence resides in quality not in quantity." The best are few while the mediocre are many. And so he advises us, "Be common in nothing. Especially not in taste." Do not seek the approval of the vulgar, the base or the foolish. Gracián warns us to "take no pleasure in the wonder of the mob, for ignorance never gets beyond wonder. While vulgar folly wonders, wisdom watches for the deception."
Things and people are not as they first appear. The human world consists of the good and the bad. The unrighteous use deceit, so the righteous must be wary. Many pretend to be righteous; therefore safety requires that we unmask the imposter before he takes us in. We must not deceive ourselves if we are to avoid the deception of others. In fact, we must cultivate our own goodness in order to better defend ourselves from false goodness. "Be a person of integrity," says Gracián. "Cling to righteousness with such tenacity of purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause you to transgress the bounds of right." And what is righteousness for Gracián? Righteousness cares not "if it conflicts with friendship, power or even self-interest...." The good are tenacious, above all, and regard "deception as a kind of treason...." He tells us, "Such people are always to be found on the side of truth, and if they desert a group they do not change due to fickleness but because the others have first deserted truth."
Here is advice for the great and small, for the rich and poor. Even presidents and government ministers may profit from Gracián's little book (if they dare). "To be occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing." We must learn to know what is our business, and what is none of our business; what is significant and what is insignificant. "Some make much of what matters little and little of much, always weighing in the wrong scale. Many never lose their common sense, because they have none to lose," noted Gracián. We must know when to move forward, and when to move back. "A fine retreat is as good as a gallant attack." We cannot always win, and we cannot always avoid mistakes. And so it remains important, anticipating a future cycle of adversity, to make the right friends beforehand. "A friend is a second self," says Gracián. "Every friend is good and wise for his friend; between them everything turns to good."
Do not make enemies, since enemies will appear of their own accord. Put up with fools. "Gain people's goodwill," Gracián advised. "It is a great thing to gain universal admiration, but greater still to gain universal affection." When you are good yourself, you win the approval of others. Always be gracious. Always be high-minded. "Lowly minds never have friends - in luck they will not recognize them, in misfortune they will not be recognized by them." Never compete, Gracián warns. "Every competition damages your reputation." In unnecessary rivalry there is danger because, as he explains, "Few wage war honorably." The wise man avoids being disliked. He wages war honorably, and wins praise on all sides. Be gracious toward those who hate you. As Gracián noted, "One cannot praise a person too much who speaks well of them who speak ill of him. There is no more heroic vengeance than that of talents and services that at once conquer and torment the envious. Every success is a further twist of the cord round the neck of those who wish you ill...." In these matters it is also important to never contend with those that have nothing to lose. Such conflicts are asymmetrical. And never, says Gracián, "guide the enemy to what he has to do."
It is best to do things well, than quickly. It is wise to restrain your impulses. "He is great," says Gracián, "who never allows himself to be influenced by the impressions of others." Know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. Improve yourself as best you can. And learn how to say "no" to yourself and others. Don't appease, don't give way to the pushy climber. At the same time, "Your refusal need not be pointblank; let the disappointment come by degrees." Consistency, of course, is essential. "Be resolute," says Gracián. "Bad execution of your designs does less harm than irresolution in forming them."
In the art of undertaking things, however, we must not confuse resolution with heedlessness. The fool rushes in, "for folly is always bold." The wise man is bold, but only after careful thought. "Take care when you get information. We live by information," wrote Gracián. "We exist by faith in others. The ear is the side door of truth but the front door of lies." The listener must grasp "the intention of the speaker...." Is there malice? Is there envy? Seek hidden things in visible clues. But do not pry too minutely into things, "least of all in unpleasant matters. For though it is important to know all, it is not necessary to know all about all. One ought to act in such cases with the generosity of a gentleman, with conduct worthy of a gallant person." One should only act with honorable people. Trust is necessary in all undertakings, and with honorable people there is a firm foundation of trust.
"Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts about its prudence." There is no reason to labor for the sake of your own destruction. There is no profit in throwing good money after bad. "An ounce of wisdom is worth more than a ton of cleverness...." And be careful, says Gracián. "Things pass for what they seem, not for what they are. Few see inside, many get attached to appearances." It is essential, therefore, to discover what is going on underneath the surface. It is important to go to the essence of things, to grasp the nature of people. "Be a person without illusions." Get along with others, but do not go along with their folly. If people make mistakes it is enough to avoid the error oneself, but there is no reason for censoring them. Gracián wrote that those who condemn all are "vile indeed. They accuse with such exaggeration that they make out of motes beams with which to poke out the eyes."
Respect others that you may be respected. Live practically, avoid affectation, never complain, avoid being contrary, look for the silver lining and "do not show your wounded finger." Gracián advises that we learn the art of conversation, cultivate the proper skepticism. "Maturity of mind is best shown in slow belief. Lying is the usual thing, so then let belief be unusual." Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds. "One cannot dine off words, which are wind," says Gracián, "nor off politeness, which is but polite deceit."
I have mentioned Gracián's book in previous columns, and I will do so again. There are books that dispense philosophical wisdom, spiritual insight, and abstract knowledge. But Gracián gives us something more down-to-earth; something that cuts through our illusions and conceits, telling us plainly how the world - the everyday world - actually works. Understanding the world's great powers is no different than understanding the everyday powers. To see what nature delivers through the individual, through the smallest event, is to see the hub of reality itself. And as I observe the world, I see that people are so busy pursuing hopes and dreams they forget how to look at what is directly in front of them.
