The self-protection
advice presented in the “Adages” possesses extraordinary value,
even if the author, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), never took the trouble to systematize his
recommendations, so that readers would find them easier to implement.
On the contrary, he seemed more interested in compiling variations of
the same proverb than in making sense of the underlying principles.
My purpose today goes
exactly in the opposite direction. I have gone through Erasmus' four
thousand citations, and extracted those that provide the best advice
on self-protection. In addition, I have grouped them in a few major
themes that can guide anyone who wants to stay out trouble, and
overcome the problems he is facing.
The
first of these themes is the distrust of pompous words and
meaningless formalities. After his ordination in 1492, Erasmus
remained a Catholic priest all his life, although a free-thinking
one. This aspect of his personality prompted him to write against the
exaggerated pomposity and formalism of the Church, two elements that
he regarded as distractions from truth.
The affirmation of truth
Erasmus never conceived
the idea of embracing another religion, but his loyalty to the
Catholic faith did not render him blind to the errors committed by
bishops, monks, and priests. Throughout the decades,
Erasmus remained convinced that the affirmation of truth is the most
essential moral commandment, and that anyone who tries to dilute
principles into meaningless rituals does not understand the purpose
of morality.
Yet, while Erasmus was
conscious of the dangers of empty rituals, he also realized that most
people regard morality as a collection of meaningless formalities
unconnected to higher principles. This explains why so many
individuals pay inordinate attention to irrelevant details, instead
of trying to understand the underlying ideals. Another negative
consequence of this approach is that it leads people to give up
morality altogether, once they realize the impossibility of complying
with thousands of arbitrary rules.
In his collection of
proverbs, Erasmus includes “Quod homines tot sententiae,”
which means that, if you ask several people about a certain subject,
you are likely to get discordant or contradictory opinions.
The existence of such
diverse opinions cannot be contested, but this does not make them all
equally true. You should not use other people's inconsistencies as an
excuse for taking refuge in meaningless formalities, and escaping the
responsibility of figuring out the truth.
To make things worse, the
attempt to reduce moral ideas to empty rituals typically leads to
manipulation, mystification, and social disintegration. Unless you
are determined to banish meaningless formalities from your life, you
are going to be exposing yourself to risks that will substantially
undermine your self-protection.
What prevents people from thinking
Empty rituals prevent
people from thinking, render them passive, and waste their energies
and resources. They make people believe that, as long as they comply
with some meaningless formalities, they can do whatever they want
without suffering any negative consequences.
Such
doctrine is so manifestly false that one can only wonder how it is
possible that millions of individuals still consider it valid.
Erasmus strongly rejected empty rituals and pompous words, and
emphasized that ethical principles should be clearly identified, and
all things should be called by their real names.
For
example, he underlined the importance of men being honest and reliable in every situation, beneficial or adverse, irrespective of
their willingness or not to comply with meaningless rituals. His
proverb “ficus ficus, ligonem ligonem vocat” can be
translated as “you should call a spade a spade.” Good persons
should focus on the facts of reality, disregard misleading advice,
and ignore the surrounding noise.
Never
waste your time trying to distort reality in order to please
yourself, or other people. Misrepresentation, instead of solving
problems, only makes them worse. If you want to make correct decisions, you have to start by calling things by their names. You
have to start by avoiding empty rituals, and focusing on the
substance.
If someone tries to
convince you to pay exaggerated attention to meaningless formalities,
you should not only ignore his advice, but make sure that you never
listen to that person ever again. If you want to find happiness and
success, you have to focus on principles and ideals, not on
irrelevant details.
Pomposity and ritualism
are two types of intellectual cancer that can destroy a man's
integrity and ambition quicker than you can imagine. What is even
worse, anyone who falls prey to pomposity and ritualism is unlikely
to recover without exerting a massive effort.
The metaphor of the twisted branch
Erasmus expressed this
idea very beautifully in his citation “lignum tortum haud unquam
rectum,” which means that nobody can straighten a twisted
branch. Malevolent people will seldom become kind and friendly, no
matter how long you wait. Crooked minds never improve, or at least,
they improve so rarely that you should not expect to see many of such
cases in your lifetime.
If
you discard formalism, and focus on truth, you will be making a major
contribution to your self-protection. By remaining loyal to
principles and ignoring empty words, you will be reaffirming the
facts of reality over delusion and wishful thinking.
The ability to remain
focused on truth will increase its value over time. While people
obsessed by formalities are going to spend their lives running in
circles, those who guide themselves by principles will be able to
make accurate decisions, and implement them consistently.
Erasmus considered the
rejection of pomposity and formalism so crucial that he kept coming
back to this subject in every book he wrote. In life, few things
matter as much as truthful ideas and principles. If you follow
Erasmus' recommendation and reject empty rituals, your personal
effectiveness is guaranteed to increase over time.
For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living
[Text: copyright John Vespasian, 2014]
[Image by Alan.V under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]
[Text: copyright John Vespasian, 2014]
[Image by Alan.V under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]