The Consolation of Philosophy
Why weep over a part of life? Do you not see that all of life brings tears?
— The philosopher Seneca
The title of this article borrows from the Chinese translation of a book by Alain de Botton, translated by Zi Zhongyun; the Chinese title of that book is indeed *The Consolations of Philosophy*. In fact, the subject of this article is more or less related to the theme of that book. In *The Consolations of Philosophy*, de Botton selects six philosophers from the history of Western philosophy and, from different angles, sets forth the consoling role that philosophy plays in life.
*The Consolations of Philosophy* is worth reading. The author, Alain de Botton, is a thoroughgoing generalist writer whose books are wonderfully lively. The translator, Zi Zhongyun, is one of China's most celebrated translators; reading the works she has translated is a pleasure, and her renderings make me wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Wang Xiaobo's remark that most of China's finest men of letters were translators.
In the preface he wrote for this book, Mr. Zhou Guoping says something very much to the point: "There are all manner of disappointments in life; some of them can be changed, and some cannot. For those defects that cannot be changed, philosophy offers a perspective that helps us face and accept them with equanimity. In this sense, one may say that philosophy is a consolation."
This is also the theme I wish to express in this article. I am someone who deals professionally with misfortune; most of the people I come into contact with are cancer patients and their families. A misfortune such as contracting cancer is by no means something that a few lightly worded sentences can console. This belongs to the kind of unalterable disappointment of which Mr. Zhou Guoping speaks. Even if some patients are fortunate enough to escape from the clutches of cancer through treatment, the exorbitant medical bills will still strip a layer of skin off them.
Faced with such a shattered life, many people become melancholy and withdrawn. Among cancer patients and their families, nearly half live in a state of sub-health; some can still force a smile, while others simply mope all day. Some 27% of cancer patients pass away prematurely because of depression, and quite a number of cancer patients' families, unable to bear the blow, also end their lives in depression.
In the bleak reality of being stricken with a terminal illness, any language seems pale and powerless. But there is one thing that can ease the mental suffering of a person in affliction, and that is philosophy. The philosopher Seneca said that people are best able to withstand setbacks for which they have prepared and which they understand, and are hurt the most when it is otherwise. The function of philosophy lies, first, in making people realize that any kind of bad thing can happen, so that they are always prepared; and second, in helping people understand the bad things that have already happened, and recognize that they are not necessarily as bad as they seem.
When suffering descends upon a person, one must have enough capacity to endure it. Philosophy helps people recognize that suffering is a normal state of life. The ancient Chinese said that nine out of ten things in life are unsatisfactory. After we have received a certain philosophical training, we are able to face the occurrence of disappointments calmly, and achieve what Master Sheng Yen described as "face it, accept it, deal with it, and let it go." People who have not received philosophical training will develop all manner of painful and resentful feelings. Suffering may not be what breaks a person; more often, people are broken by the negative emotions that suffering produces.
Philosophy provides us with an objective and rational perspective, allowing us to look more calmly at everything that happens to us. For this reason, we do not feel as if life were not worth living over the misfortunes that befall us. Philosophy is a good medicine for healing the mind, and religion too has a soothing effect on people. But religion, with its unavoidable deceptive elements, is becoming less and less attractive to rational modern people. Philosophy is otherwise; philosophy is always tirelessly pursuing the truth. If there is a part of philosophy that is untrue, it will honestly correct itself. People are always more willing to accept things that meet the standards of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
The word "philosophy" means "love of wisdom" in Greek. In ancient China there was no word corresponding to it; the closest term was perhaps the two characters "wu dao," or awakening to the Way. But many Chinese like to make the word "Dao" seem unfathomably profound, deliberately raising the threshold of awakening to the Way, so that this discipline of wisdom has become a highbrow art inaccessible to the millions of ordinary folk.
Reading, debating, and thinking are the common ways of studying philosophy. If you have an opponent to study philosophy with you, your progress will be much faster. There are a great many books on philosophy, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign; walk into any bookstore and you will see a shelf with a dedicated philosophy section. Pause a moment in front of these shelves, pick out a few books you can understand and get into, read them, and if you like them, buy them home and read them carefully—that is how you cross the threshold of philosophy. In fact the threshold of philosophy is just this low; everyone has an innate love of wisdom, and our brains naturally think about things. Awakening to the Way is not a difficult thing; it is just that most people cannot be bothered to use their minds.
If there is a debating opponent studying philosophy with us, that is very helpful to us. I studied philosophy in high school, guided by my teacher; my elder brother was my debating partner when I studied philosophy. He was the top scorer in the liberal arts college entrance examination in our region, scoring nearly thirty points above Peking University's admission cutoff. So most of the time I could not win an argument with him, but our debates were immensely beneficial to both of us. For although he inspired my thinking a little more, I also often inspired his thinking in our arguments. My cousin on my aunt's side was also the top liberal-arts scorer in our region in the college entrance exam; he too loved debate, and whenever we happened to meet, we would engage in fierce intellectual clashes, neither willing to concede defeat in argument. If one has two such opponents around, it is hard not to learn philosophy well.
Most of the prejudices in the human world cannot stand up to scrutiny, and the chief cause of most people's suffering is the various prejudices that are widespread in the world. People who have received philosophical training will, before accepting any viewpoint, involuntarily think and reason it through in their minds; if, after thinking, we come to know that certain prejudices are wrong, we will not accept them, nor will we be influenced by them any longer.
Thus philosophy can free people from the influence of vulgar convention, and enable them to remain an independent thinker throughout life—though lonely, yet clear-headed and light of heart. The mortal world is a tangle of vines and tendrils, intertwined and ceaselessly troubled; the sharp sword of philosophy can cut through these knots that "cannot be cut and will not unravel," enabling a person to remain unruffled by whatever befalls him.
So, if we have already reached the end of our tether, why not set aside some time to study philosophy!