169. Baltasar Gracián

0:00SPEAKER_00:Baltasar Garcian is your favorite writer's favorite writer. Voltaire wrote on Garcian, I thank you for Garcia's hero. Nietzsche, Frederick Nietzsche said on the man, In the experience of life, Garcian shows incomparable wisdom and clear-sightedness. Arthur Schopenhauer, the great German philosopher and writer, spent hours translating the works, his works, Garcia's works, into German because he believed that there wasn't a single book ever created like the one he wrote in his own language, or he would argue in any language in the world.

0:29SPEAKER_00:And one of the reasons Garcia's work was so impactful at the time, so praiseworthy, so loved by others, is because he was often considered the master of a term called conceptismo, basically, this ability to pack in the most amount of meaning and ideas into the fewest amount of words. He had this rare ability to convey and persuade and inform in quite a succinct and concise way, where these ideas were able to really connect with people. So much to the point that some of the greatest minds in the world, the greatest writers, the greatest thinkers, thinkers Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Voltaire thought so greatly of the man.

1:10SPEAKER_00:This is the philosophy and the ideas of the great Jesuit philosopher Balthasar Garcia. Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you miss. And it's an absolute gem of a book. And it's it's it's not a normal book by any means. It's made up of these, I think there's like 250, 300 different maxims and short passages on a variety of things. So what I want to do with today's episode, just roll through some of my favorite maxim and ideas one by one. And we're gonna see a lot of similar themes come up throughout the episode.

2:34SPEAKER_00:Garcia is a big believer in the importance of virtue and virtue being the key to a meaningful and fulfilling life. He's all about the pursuit of wisdom, something he talks a lot about throughout the book, and he also talks a lot about power and influence. And there's actually a famous book these days by Robert Green called The 48 Laws of Power. And much of what Green writes about in that book, this is something I didn't know, is heavily influenced and is also written by Garcia 400 years earlier than Robert Green.

3:04SPEAKER_00:Some people have actually called uh Baltasar Garcia and like the OG Robert Green. And this is probably worth mentioning, but many of the things that he does write on influence and power that we'll mention throughout the episode may counteract like a lot of the things that Garcia actually does write about, like on virtue and being good. But it wasn't so much to know how to use power for evil or to have power to corrupt, but to have a good understanding of what human nature was like to avoid being the victim of those who would use power.

3:34SPEAKER_00:Garcia actually lived in Spain in the uh the 1600s and was very much so involved in the social and the political hierarchy at the time. And during that time, it was full of spies and tricks and deception. And he saw all this stuff firsthand behind the scenes, which gave him the knowledge to write about how human nature worked, how power worked. And much of the book is really just about that human nature and power, this deep insight into the fundamental nature of human beings and how they think and how they get how they try to influence people.

4:06SPEAKER_00:And as we go throughout the episode, we're gonna bounce around between a lot of different little ideas and thoughts. So I think one of the very best ways to actually listen today. Because this is actually how I read the book, is when something catches your your ear, an idea, a maximum passage, feel free to pause and just think about it for a moment. Garcin, as I mentioned earlier, was a master of the centuries, 17th century term called conceptismo, where he had this rare and unique ability at the time to get the most out of the fewest amount of words.

4:35SPEAKER_00:He was very concise and and and had this rare ability to convey and inform and persuade with as few words as possible. So here we go. Garcia writes, character and intellect, the two poles of our capacity, one without the other, is but halfway to happiness. Intellect isn't sufficient enough. Character is also needed. Knowledge and courage are the elements of greatness. They give immortality because they are immortal. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything.

5:04SPEAKER_00:A man without knowledge, a world without light. Something Garcian will say later is that the way to be immortal is through virtue. The way to be immortal is through virtue. Obviously, you can't and never will live forever. You're gonna die. If you're not, I mean, if you're not Brian Johnson, he's gonna live forever. But with virtue, with with high character, with the right actions, you you leave an impact, you leave a mark on the world that is beyond yourself.

5:32SPEAKER_00:And that impact can live forever. So the way to immortality, according to Garcia, is through virtue. And and a theme that will come up throughout the episode is the importance of controlling what he calls passions, basically your emotions and your first impressions. He writes, to be without passions. This is a privilege of the highest order of mind. Their very eminence redeems them from being affected by transient and low impulses. There is no higher rule than that over oneself, over one's impulses.

6:01SPEAKER_00:There is the triumph of f of free will. The more I think about it, I actually do believe this is like one of the one of life's greatest flexes, is to be like a true, true controller of your emotions, to not let anger or frustration or to let impulse guide you in your decision making. And the ability to basically like pause between stimulus and response. Garcia writes, cultivate those who can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and culture be taught through conversation.

6:29SPEAKER_00:Thus you make your friends and your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Wise men frequent, frequent the houses of great noblemen, not because they are temples of vanity, but as theaters of good breeding. One of the fundamental things Garcia believes that humans should be after is knowledge and therefore wisdom. It's it's he argues it's the foundation for everything in life. So he urges others to be constantly in the pursuit of learning or conversing with those that you can learn from.

6:58SPEAKER_00:This next idea from Garcia is something I love. It's all about controlling your imagination. Keep the imagination under control, he writes, sometimes correcting, sometimes assisting it, for it's all important for our happiness and even sets the reason right. It can tyrannize and is not content with looking on, but influences and even often dominates life, causing it to be happy or burdensome according to the folly to which it leads. Four, it makes us either content or discontent with ourselves.

7:24SPEAKER_00:Before some, it continually holds up the penalties of action and becomes the mortifying lash of these fools. Tethers, it promises happiness and adventure with blissful delusion. It can do all this unless the most prudent self-control keeps it in subjection. This is something that that's been on my mind recently, and you'll see this throughout the episode. Garcia's writing can be like difficult to understand at times. It was just the nature of the language at the time.

7:48SPEAKER_00:But something that's been on my mind recently, and I think it's it's an interesting idea. But like your imagination can either be your friend or foe to your to your well-being, to your happiness. And one of the beautiful things of the human mind is that we can think, we can imagine and deeply contemplate things. We can put together these scenarios in the future and imagine how things will turn out if this happens or if that happens. But one of the dangers of the imagination, and this is what Garcia urges, and he argues, is that it can create scenarios or feelings or situations that that really aren't in line with reality.

8:20SPEAKER_00:You imagine how you will feel when this happens, or you picture how great life will be when this thing happens. And what we often do is we often overimaginate or overimagine what those feelings will be. So when they do arrive, imagination often doesn't fit reality. So something that's like, I think very, very valuable is to actually tame your imagination. I think it's a weird, weird thing to do. I I think another word for this would be actually to like control your expectations.

8:47SPEAKER_00:Human nature has this tendency to think things will be better than they actually are, and vice versa, worse than they actually are. So finding the middle ground with your imagination, I think could be something very valuable because it brings you close to what reality will be, both for good and and for bad. Back to Garcia. This is on integrity and righteousness and basically how the goal is to make virtue your North Star, your everything. He writes, a man of rectitude clings to the sect of right with such tenacity of purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause him to transgress the bounds of right.

9:21SPEAKER_00:I think that's really interesting. Imagine viewing virtue so strongly, almost, I think like almost religiously, almost like a god, that no other force in the world could lead you to disobey virtue. No passion, no mob, as Garcia writes, no, no outside force, nothing. And and then Garcia explains that while many are after virtue virtue, many do end up failing to cultivate virtue because it requires them to be tested. It requires sacrifice. Many pers many praise it indeed, virtue.

9:51SPEAKER_00:But for others, others follow it till danger threatens. Others follow it till danger threatens. It's easy to be virtuous until danger threatens. There's this great line from Frederick Nietzsche, who, as we mentioned in the introduction, idolized Garcia, where Nietzsche says, I love him who makes virtue his addiction and his catastrophe. I love him who makes virtue his addiction and his catastrophe. Garcia writes, and this is a great little line from him.

10:19SPEAKER_00:Think over things most over the most important. You want to make sure that that you are thinking about things. But you want to make sure that you're thinking the most about the most important things. Garcia continues, some make much of what imports little and little of much, always weighing in the wrong scale. Many never lose their common sense because they have none to lose. There are matters which should be observed with the closest attention of the mind, thenceforth kept in its lowest depths.

10:49SPEAKER_00:The wise man thinks over everything, but with a difference, most profoundly, where there is some profound difficulty and thinks that perhaps there is more in it than he thinks. This, his comprehension, extends as far as his apprehension. A good question, I think, to ask yourself is are your thoughts and is your thinking dispersed correctly? Is it distributed equally based on the value or the importance of the things you're thinking about? Are you are are the truly important matters getting the the brunt of your of your thinking, of your energy, of your mind?

11:22SPEAKER_00:Or is it the trivial, non-essential things that are, that are taking over your thinking process? And as Garcia said earlier, think over things and think most of them over the most important. And this extends also to, I mean, what you do and don't do. Garcia writes, know how to withdraw. If it is a great lesson in life to know how to deny, it is a still greater one to know how to deny oneself as regards both to affairs and persons. There are extraneous occupations which eat away precious time.

11:50SPEAKER_00:To be occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. I I I really like that last line. To be occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. Inaction in nothing, you could argue, is better than action in in worthless pursuits or trivial things or things that that actually don't matter to you. That's really interesting. Something else Garcia urges is the importance of knowing yourself. Self-reflection is a big proponent of his writing.

12:19SPEAKER_00:And a part of self-reflection is to know who you are and really what you're good at. He says, know your strongest point, your pre-eminent gift. Cultivate that and you will assist the rest. Everyone would have excelled in s if in something if he had known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass and take charge of that. So many people are aware of, and I mentioned this earlier, Robert Green's very popular book, The 48 Laws of Power. And if you read that book and then you start to read the works of Garcia, you start to see a bunch of similarities.

12:51SPEAKER_00:Some people have called, like I mentioned, Garcia, the OG Robert Green. And I mentioned earlier, but a lot of what he writes about is power and influence and human nature. Not so much so you can do ill to the world or use power for you, but to know how things work and how people think. And there's a bunch of different stories Garcian has here, or not stories, ideas he has here. He writes, keep matters for a time in suspense. Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements.

13:18SPEAKER_00:It is both useless and insipid to play with cards on the table. If you not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the object of general attention. Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration, deep respect. And when you explain, but not too explicit, just as you do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom.

13:46SPEAKER_00:A resolution declared is never highly thought of. It only leaves room for criticism. Here's another one from Garcia: create a feeling of dependence. Not he that adorns, but he that adores makes a divinity. The wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic. To trust to their gratitude borished, hope has a good memory. Gratitude, a bad one. That's an interesting line. Hope has a good memory.

14:12SPEAKER_00:Gratitude, a bad one. Very interesting. More is to be got, back to Garcia. More is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. When dependence disappears, good behavior goes with it as well as respect. Let it be done, or let it be one of the chief lessons, lessons of experience, to keep hope alive without entirely satisfying it. By preserving it, to make oneself always needed, even by a patron on the throne. And this is actually one of uh Robert Green's laws in his his book.

14:39SPEAKER_00:It's actually Rule 11. Learn to keep people dependent on you. And Green writes this, and this connects well with what Garcia was saying. To maintain your independence, you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity, and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so they can do without you. Now back to Garcia. He urges the danger of outshining your superiors.

15:05SPEAKER_00:Avoid victories over superiors, he writes. All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish and fatal. Garcia then writes on trying to be like unpredictable in action, the value of being unpredictable or or or or not repeating the same patterns over and over again. Vary the mode of action, he says, not always the same way, so as to distract attention, especially if there be a rival. Not always from first impulse. They will soon recognize the uniformity and by anticipating, frustrate your designs.

15:35SPEAKER_00:And it's easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight, not so much the one that twists. Nor always act on second thoughts. They can discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on watch. Great skill is required to circumvent him. The gamester never plays the cards the opponent expects, still less that which he wants. For some reason, this passage reminded me of something that uh Phil Jackson, the great basketball coach, said. He wrote in his book uh 11 Rings, the problem that many people or many teams make when they're trying to repeat as champions is they they don't change.

16:09SPEAKER_00:He writes, the mistake championship teams often make is to try to repeat their winning formula. But that rarely works because by the time that next season starts, your opponents have studied all the videos and figured out how to counter every move you made. Winning is about moving into the unknown and creating something new, which is why Garcia says here, you need to vary your mode of action. In business and in war, in life, you need to be unpredictable so others don't know what is coming next.

16:38SPEAKER_00:Here's a short, short passage from him on the importance of understanding people. And if you can deeply, deeply understand someone, if you can know someone, that means you know how to influence them. Or if someone deeply, deeply understands you, they know how to influence you. Find out each man's thumbscrew, he says. Every choice has a special motive, which varies according to taste. All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.

17:00SPEAKER_00:Skill consists in knowing those idols in order to bring them into play. Knowing any man's mainspring of motive, you have, as it were, the key to his will. First guess a man's ruling passion, appeal it to appeal to it by word, set it in motion by temptation, and you will infallibly give checkmate to his freedom of will. We're gonna come back to Robert Green a lot throughout this episode, because I mean Green was influenced by Garcian, and there's so many parallels between Garcian's work and and Green's work and book.

17:29SPEAKER_00:But one of Green's laws in the 48 Laws of Power is exactly what Garcian writes there. Green says, discover each man's thumbscrew. Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need. It can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found is a thumbscrew, you can turn to your advantage. And I think so much of understanding human nature and why I wanted to make today's episode and and and the the importance of knowing how power works and all these things that Garcia is saying and Robert Green is saying, isn't so much that you can use it for you, but to avoid falling into the traps of when others try to use it against you, whether in your own life, whether in business, relationships, whatever it may be.

18:09SPEAKER_00:Like if you have a thumbscrew, you do have a thumbscrew, we all do. Something that is a weakness of ours. And if if you're aware of what that is, whether it's a a need for approval, a desire for something, a quick temper, then you can make sure others don't use that against you. And this is also why Garcia was such a believer in self-reflection, because if you knew who you were, deeply, deeply knew who you were, and you knew and you knew yourself, then you could avoid falling into such traps of people taking advantage of whatever your weakness was, whatever your thumb screw was, because you know who you are.

18:43SPEAKER_00:You know what it is, so you're less likely to let people take advantage of it. And one of the ways to know yourself and to know others is to become a master in observation. Garcia writes this observation and judgment. A man with these rules things, not they him. He sounds at once the profoundest depths. On seeing a person, he understands him and judges of his inmost nature. From a few observations, he deciphers the most hidden recesses of his nature.

19:08SPEAKER_00:Keen observation, subtile, subtle insight, judicious inference. With these, he discovers, notices, graps, and comprehends everything. I do think this is true, but if you become like just a a master of observing people and things, basically if you just take the time to observe things, I think you can get like a really good understanding of of how people act and really of human nature by just observing, like taking the time to watch things, to see how people act, to see how people, to see what people do in certain situations.

19:39SPEAKER_00:Like as Garcian said there, keen observation, subtle insight, judicious inference. With these, he discovers, notices, grasps, and comprehends everything. Observation has a is a superpower in itself. Some other things from Garcian, prize intensity more than extent. Excellence recides in quality, not in quantity. The best is always few and rare, much lowers value. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity. It is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere.

20:10SPEAKER_00:Intensity gives eminence and rises to the heroic in matter sublime. And then Garcia mentions this idea on the importance of basically keeping low expectations, or keeping expectations low, arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realize them. Imagination weds hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellence is, they never suffice to fill expectations.

20:38SPEAKER_00:And as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations, they are more ready to be disillusioned than to be admired. Hope is a great falsifier of truth. That's a good line. Hope is a great falsifier of truth. Let skill guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. It is better that reality should surpass the design and is better than with thought. Garcia's talking about control and influence here. But I think this is a great parallel to like having a good life as well.

21:06SPEAKER_00:We mentioned this earlier. This this danger of imagination. But it it's the same thing with expectations. If you expect things to be great or to be perfect or better than they actually can be in reality, then reality is always going to be disappointing for you. It's always going to be, it's always going to cause more frustration than it needs to be. And bridging the gap between expectation and reality, I think is a very, very valuable life skill.

21:32SPEAKER_00:So this book of maxims from Garcia is broken into it's like five or six different sections. And much of the second section comes back to the self and important traits and ideas for making decisions and how to live better and what to do, what not to do, what to avoid. And he gives an interesting idea that is, again, something we've seen with the philosopher Seneca. Garcia writes this never lose self respect or be too familiar with oneself. Let your own right feelings be the true standard of your rectitude, basically, your virtue.

22:00SPEAKER_00:And owe more to the strictness of your own self-judgment than to all external sanctions. Leave off anything unseemly more from regard for your own self-respect than from fear of external authority. Pay regard to that, and there is no need for Seneca's imaginary tutor. When Garcia says that that last line there, there's no need for Seneca's imaginary tutor, he's talking about this idea that we've mentioned before of like finding a Cato. Basically, someone you can measure yourself up to, your character, how you're living, or someone you think very highly of.

22:30SPEAKER_00:But Garcian believes that all you need and maybe all you should need is yourself, is to judge yourself against virtue. You don't need a person, you don't need to live up to someone else, you just need to live up to virtue and virtue alone. And that just requires you to be strict with yourself. And then Garcia expands on the importance of patience. Weight, he says, it's a sign of a noble heart dowered with patience, never to be in a hurry, never to be in a passion.

22:54SPEAKER_00:First, be master over yourself if you would be master over others. And much of the importance of a patience with Garcia and comes back to, we mentioned this earlier, like not letting impulses get the best of you, not letting your passions get the best of you. Do not give way to every common impulse. He is a great man who never allows himself to be influenced by the impressions of others. Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. I think that I think that's a great line.

23:18SPEAKER_00:Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. And he expands on the danger of impulse. There be some whose humors are so monstrous that they are always under the influence of one or others. They are torn asunder by such disharmony and get involved in contradictory obligations. Such excess not only destroys firmness of will, all power of judgment gets lost. Desire and knowledge pulling in opposite directions. And part of this uh ability to get to the point where you you master yourself, a master of emotions and reactions, to basically not let your impulses get the best of you comes back to, and we'll say this again, knowing yourself.

23:56SPEAKER_00:As Garcia said earlier, self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. He writes, know yourself in talents and capacity, in judgment and inclination. You cannot master yourself unless you know yourself. There are mirrors for the face, but none for the mind. Let careful thought be about yourself, serve as a substitute. When the outer image is forgotten, keep the inner one to improve and perfect. Learn the force of your intellect and capacity for affairs.

24:20SPEAKER_00:Test the force of your courage in order to apply it, and keep your foundation secure and your head clear for everything. And then Garcia brings up two maxims on things that you should try to avoid in life. Number one, avoid worry. Such prudence brings its own reward. It escapes much and it and is thus the midwife of comfort and of happiness. Neither give nor take bad news unless it can help. Some men's ears are stuffed with the sweets of flattery, others with the bitters of scandal, while some cannot live without a daily annoyance.

24:51SPEAKER_00:The second thing, do not vacillate. Let your let not your actions be abnormal, either from disposition or affectation. An able man is always the same in his best qualities. Basically, he's consistent. He gets the credit of trustworthiness. If he changes, he does so for good reason or good consideration. This goes back to the first thing Garcia mentioned on worry. He said, avoid worry. But I've always loved the framework and idea from Seneca on premature suffering.

25:20SPEAKER_00:Seneca says this he suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary. To be in a like constant state of worry is to always be suffering. And the idea is like you're going to suffer soon enough. I think this is very difficult to do as as a human, but I think it's it's something that that's very important to try to understand. Like you're going to suffer soon enough. Like the event's going to happen, the thing's going to happen. So to to to worry anxiously, to worry constantly about what the what suffering might happen is to suffer before the suffering happens and then to suffer when the suffering does happen.

25:55SPEAKER_00:Because at the end of the day, that's that's all worrying truly is, is the constant state of suffering. Back to Garcia, know how to choose well. Most of life depends on this. It needs good taste and correct judgment, for neither intellect nor study suffices. To be choice, you must choose. And for this, two things are needed. To be able to choose at all, and then to choose the best. There are many men of subtle mind, of keen judgment, of much learning, and of great observation who are yet at a loss when they come to choose.

26:25SPEAKER_00:They always take the worst as if they had tried to go wrong. This, thus, this is one of the greatest gifts from above. I I I like that breakdown a lot. Choice comes down to basically two things: courage and intellect. You have to have the courage to make a decision, and then the wisdom and and the knowledge to make the right choice, the right decision. One without the other, and you won't make good decisions in life. You need courage supplemented with knowledge and intellect and wisdom to know how to choose well in life.

26:53SPEAKER_00:And this may sound like uh a contrast to what Garcia mentioned earlier about not having a cato, but Garcia thought you should have someone you can like look up to, someone who can spark something inside of you at times. Choose a heroic ideal. That's what he calls it, a heroic ideal. But rather to emulate them than to imitate. These are exemplars of greatness, living text of honor. Let everyone have before his mind the chief of his calling, not so much to follow him as to spur himself on.

27:20SPEAKER_00:Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet clang of a nether's fame. The same thing that sharpens envy nourishes a generous spirit. This is something we actually see a lot in the people we study, this intense interest and fascination from a very young age in history and great people, in what Garcia called their a heroic ideal, and it having this inspiring effect, that the spirit that runs through them. And there's this great example actually of Theodore Roosevelt, where he was, or when he was a young boy, and he was someone who spent hours and hours reading.

27:53SPEAKER_00:He got lost in books. His family had a massive library, and it's how he spent a lot of his free time. And he said this, he later recalled this on the power of books and the power of reading. From reading of the people I admired, I felt a great admiration for men who were fearless and could hold their own in the world. And I had a great desire to be like them. And that's what Garcia said. Let everyone have before him his mind the chief of his calling, not so much to follow him as to spur himself on.

28:19SPEAKER_00:And it's in this second section of Maxims that Garcia has some, I think just some great mottos and mantras to live by. The first is on the importance and correlation between time and excellence. Slow and sure, he says, early enough is well. Quickly done can be quickly undone. To last an eternity requires an eternity of preparation. Only excellence counts, only achievement endures. Profound intelligence is the only foundation for immortality. Worth much, it costs much.

28:44SPEAKER_00:The precious metals are the heaviest. If you think about it, like the things that endure, the things that the things that are great often are the result of an immense amount of effort and time. As Garcia said there in just four words, worth much cost much. Worth much cost much. I love this next one. He says, renew your brilliance. Try therefore to be born again in valor and genius and fortune and all. Display startling novelties, rise afresh like the sun every day.

29:15SPEAKER_00:Change the scene on which you shine shine so that your loss may be felt in the old scenes of your triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins you applause in the new. Basically, just keep reinventing yourself. But I love that wording. Renew your brilliance. A good motto. Here's Garcia talking about virtue and high character. Let your behavior be fine and noble. A great man ought not to be little in his behavior. He ought never to pry too minutely into things, least of all in unpleasant matters.

29:42SPEAKER_00: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. Conduct worthy of a gallant man. This next one is, I think, a really important skill today, especially in the information age or overloaded age of information that we have that we live in. He says, reality and appearance. Things pass for what they seem, not for what they are. Few see inside, many take to the outside.

30:08SPEAKER_00:It is not enough to be right if right seems false and ill. I actually think one of the like the superpowers of the 21st century is to know right from wrong. I think that may that may seem like a very simple thing, like to know right from wrong, but there's so much information out there. There's so much BS and slop that that your ability to really observe and see things, to dig out the truth, to go to the depth that it requires, to understand a story or an idea may be more important than ever, even now that we have more information than ever.

30:42SPEAKER_00:Because as Garcia says, it is not enough to be right if right seems false and ill. Actually, one of my favorite insights, recent insights, came from Morgan Houseel in episode 143. I'm actually doing another episode on him next week. And he has an article called Why You Believe the Things You Do that gets to the root of I think understanding perception versus reality, like right versus wrong and what's true versus what's false, and why so many of us can easily believe what we do, and oftentimes why we can we can we can be led to believe what actually isn't true, even though we think it's true.

31:14SPEAKER_00:And Hausel writes this people can be led to believe and defend almost anything, because the goal of a belief is often not to discover what's true, it's to justify past actions or protect your reputation or provide hope when it's lacking, or to maximize your income, or to signal to others that you belong to the tribe. It goes something like this in any big event, a car accident or a terrorist attack or a recession, pandemic, etc., there can be literally millions of variables that you experience and observe.

31:37SPEAKER_00:You see people's emotions, you hear different opinions, you read about different perspectives. There is no way you can remember all the details. There are just too many. So in your recollection, you emphasize some memories, sharpening and discard others. Leveling. People tend to sharpen details that make a good story and fit their existing views and level the ones that are confusing, painful, or contradict pre-existing beliefs. Household continues.

32:01SPEAKER_00:So here we have a belief generating system. What you think is true is heavily based on what you've experienced, and you remember the parts of your experience that make good stories, confirm stereotypes, and connect dots between other experiences. The dangerous thing is that beliefs based on experience seem evidence-based, but when we're overwhelmed with observations in a complex world, we cherry pick the most attractive evidence to appease our simple story-loving minds.

32:24SPEAKER_00:So when we look at information, at a story, at something, we're not looking actually for what is right, even though we may think we are. We're looking for what makes the most sense to us. We often basically will oversimplify things or we look at things through a certain biased lens based on our own experience, which can make us even more prone to believing things that just aren't true. I think it's it's it's a good thing to know in your own lives and maybe why you believe the things you believe.

32:51SPEAKER_00:Now, back to Garcia, and this is one of my favorite lines and passages from him. The secret of a long life. Lead a good life. Two things bring life speedily to an end: folly and immortality. Some lose their life because they have not the intelligence to keep it, others because they have not the will. Just as virtue has it is its own reward, so is vice its own punishment. He who lives a fast life runs through life in a double sense. A virtuous life never dies.

33:15SPEAKER_00:I mentioned this line earlier that we're gonna come back to. A virtuous life never dies. I love that. But also he says, the secret to a long life, lead a good life. If you want to live a long life or feel like you lived a long life, you gotta live a good life. You gotta live well, you gotta feel like you've you've taken advantage of the time you're given. So, as we've already dove into, Garcia writes a lot about power and human nature. And I want to roll through some of, I think, his very best ideas on this.

33:38SPEAKER_00:The first is all about reputation. Garcia writes, gain goodwill. For this, the first and highest cause foresees and furthers the greatest objects. By gaining their goodwill, you gain man's good opinion. The whole difficulty is to gain goodwill. To keep it is easy. It has, however, to be sought for, and when found, to be utilized. I think if you have a good reputation, that's like that that means a lot in life. There's the the the great Charlie Munger said that there are two things that are the most valuable assets in life.

34:05SPEAKER_00:He says reputation and integrity. In his words, remember that reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets and can be lost in a heartbeat. And basically, you gain goodwill by by doing good, honorable, virtuous things. And this is why Garcia says you don't just need to do good things, but you actually need to do good things and have other people see you do those good things. He says this do and be seen doing. Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem.

34:31SPEAKER_00:To be of use and to know how to show yourself of use is to be twice as useful. Which is not seen is as if it was not. Even the right does not receive proper consideration if it does not seem right. I've always loved this quote from Seneca where he basically says, like, the reward of doing a good deed is just doing a good deed. He writes, the wages of a good deed is to have done it. But I mean, without a doubt, you can't build, we're talking about reputation here.

34:56SPEAKER_00:So you can't build a solid reputation if your deeds aren't in the light, like if people aren't seeing them. Perception matters a ton in this world, whether you like it or not. And it's why Garcia urges you to not just do good things, but make sure you're doing good things where people can see you doing those good things. As he said, things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. These next two ideas revolve around the importance of communication.

35:17SPEAKER_00:Have the art of conversation. That is where the real personality shows itself. No act in life requires more attention. Though it be the commonest thing in life, you must either lose or gain by it. Ben Wilson talks about this in his podcast, How to Take Over the World, that one of the absolutely key traits, one of the main traits to great leadership, to great control, to great, great influence, is you have to be a great communicator. I think I think that can be through writing, it can be through speaking, but you have to master the art of communication, communication, because it's ultimately the main thing that you use to inspire and influence and motivate and move people.

35:56SPEAKER_00:And this is something, I mean, this is something Abraham Lincoln was great at. Many considered him a master storyteller. If you don't look at another president, maybe the greatest speaker ever is Barack Obama. But if you want to move people, you've got to become a master in the art of communication. It's it's absolutely everything. And Garcia expands on something that you must avoid in this realm, in this area of communication. He says, you can't be a boar.

36:20SPEAKER_00:Don't be a boar. The man of one business or of one topic is apt to be heavy. Brevity flatters and does better business. It gains by courtesy what it loses by curtness. Good things when short are twice as good. The wise avoid being boars, especially to the great who are fully occupied. It is worse to disturb one of them than all to the rest. Well said is soon said. That's a good line. Well said is soon said. Great communication is often very simple and precise.

36:49SPEAKER_00:Now, this goes back to what we mentioned earlier, but part of influence is knowing others and acting and communicating on those needs. Garcia explains, utilize another's wants. The greater his wants, the greater his turn of the screw. The energy of desire promises more than the inertia of possession. The passion of desire increases with every increase of opposition. It is a subtle point to satisfy the desire and yet preserve the dependent. If you know what someone deeply wants and can convey to those desires, like that's ultimately where power and influence lies.

37:19SPEAKER_00:And then Garcia describes when it comes to power and control is to is it's good to have people around you, but you've got to be very deliberate and careful with who they are. He says, do not make mistakes about character. That is the worst and yet easiest error. Better to be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing with men more than with other things, it is necessary to look within. To know men is different from knowing things.

37:41SPEAKER_00:It is a profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books. And then the last thing I want to mention here, and this was mentioned a little earlier, but Garcia explains the importance of basically not showing your own weakness to others. Do not show your wounded finger, he writes, for everything will knock up against it, nor complain about it. For malice always aims where weakness can be injured.

38:09SPEAKER_00:It's what Robert Green said earlier. Discover each man's thumbscrew. Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or indeed. It can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage. And as I've said before, this is also about helping yourself. If you know your own weaknesses, if you if you don't show your wounded finger, or you're at least aware of it, you're less likely to be influenced or impacted by others who know these traits and ideas.

38:37SPEAKER_00:So if you do check out this book, as I mentioned, it's written in a way where you can almost you can almost pick it up at any time and any day and just read a few pages and get some good ideas and thoughts because it's it's just it's just short ideas and mantras. There's there's really no like structure to it. And much of what Garcia writes about is just how to live better as well, how to make better choices, how to perceive things in the right light.

38:57SPEAKER_00:And something that comes up a bunch is the importance of, we've mentioned this before, but controlling your passions and not letting your initial judgment, your initial impressions get the best of you. Garcian writes, reserve is the proof of prudence. The tongue is a wild beast. Once let loose, it is difficult to chain. It is the pulse of the soul by which wise men judge its health. By this pulse, a careful observer feels every moment of the heart.

39:20SPEAKER_00:The worst is that he who should be most reserved is the least. The sage shaves the sage saves himself from worries and embarrassments and chose his mastery over himself. Christian also writes, never act in a passion. If you do, all is lost. You cannot act for yourself if you are not yourself. And passion always drives out reason. And and the the the reason passion is so dangerous is because oftentimes your your very first impression of something, of a conversation, of of of an event, of of anything, is often very clouded.

39:52SPEAKER_00:Garcia explains this. Do not be the slave of first impressions. Some marry the very first account they hear. Always, therefore, leave room for a second hearing. Alexander always kept one ear for the other side. Wait for the second or even third edition of news. I don't know why I thought about this when I read this passage, but something almost like all these, all great companies have, or just companies have in general, is what they call like a board of directors.

40:14SPEAKER_00:Basically, this group of individuals, anywhere from like five to twenty to thirty, forty people, that approve decisions that the company makes to make sure it's it's in line with their mission, with their vision, with what they stand for, basically to keep everything in the best interest of the company. And in a sense, that that's what you want to do with yourself. That's what Garcine is arguing here. You want to have your own board of directors where you don't just you don't just act or react based on the first thing you see or your first impression.

40:40SPEAKER_00:You want to basically visit your own board of directors, directors when it comes to decision making or reacting to things. And Garcia actually writes something like this. He says, Revise your judgments. To appeal to an inner court of revision makes things safe, especially when the course of action is not clear. You gain time either to confirm or improve your decision. It affords you new grounds for strengthening or corroborating or changing your judgment.

41:04SPEAKER_00:And this is always, I mean, this is always easier said than done because the world always has a way of trying to get under our skin, of trying to let our passions get the best of us. There's actually this great story I've mentioned about Emperor Octavian when he took over the reign and he received a piece of advice from a philosopher named Theonodorus Canaanites, and he told them, whenever you feel yourself getting angry, Caesar, don't say or do anything until you've repeated the 24 letters of the alphabet to yourself.

41:28SPEAKER_00:A simple pause is often the the greatest remedy to anger or to passion or to first impressions. Maybe you say the alphabet, maybe, maybe you just get away from the situation, maybe like like Abraham Lincoln did, you write like a letter to yourself to put your frustration on paper. But uh a pause has a has a has a certain power over passions. Garcia also notes, as many do, the power of perception. Life is all about basically how you see things and how you look at things or how you don't look at things.

41:57SPEAKER_00:He writes, find the good in a thing at once. This is the advantage of good taste. The bee goes to the honey for a comb, the serpent to the gal for its venom. So with taste, some seek the good, others the ill. There is nothing that has no good in it, especially in books, as giving food for thought. But many have such a scent that amid a thousand excellences, they fix upon a single defect and single out for blame as if they were scavengers of men's minds and hearts.

42:22SPEAKER_00:So something you start to see throughout history is you see these same patterns and these same ideas and these same lessons repeated again and again. You sometimes they're they're communicated in different ways or the story is different, but the patterns repeat themselves. And Garcia writes a lot about things in the 1600s, 140 or 400, 500 years ago, that are just constant reminders that we still need in our lives today of what to do and what not to do.

42:45SPEAKER_00:He explains this do not make a business of what is no business. As some make gossip out of everything, so others business. They always talk big, take everything in earnest, and turn it into a dispute or a secret. Troublesome things must not be taken too seriously if they can be avoided. It is preposterous to take to heart that which you should throw over your shoulder. Much that would be something has become nothing by being left alone. And what was nothing has become consequence by being made much of.

43:14SPEAKER_00:That's a good motto to remember. Do not make a business of what is no business. This is a reminder that we all need because it it serves no value, but he says, Garcian writes, never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better be a model of self-reliance, opposed to the passion of others, than an abject of their compassion. By complaining of past offenses, we give occasion for future ones, and in seeking aid or counsel, we only obtain indifference or contempt.

43:41SPEAKER_00:Here Garcia is talking about the importance of living slowly. Do not live in a hurry, he writes. Many finish their fortune sooner than their life. They run through pleasures without enjoying them, and would like to go back when they find they have overleaped the mark. There's there's this uh piece of advice I mentioned from actually my dad a couple episodes back. I think it was in the Rockefeller episode, that if he had to give some wisdom to other people, if he had some some final words to offer the younger generation or just anyone in life, one of those things was this lesson.

44:18SPEAKER_00:Live deep, not fast. And I actually think this is one of the like ills of the human condition at times, and it's something I try to remind myself a lot of at this moment in my life. But the quality of your life is not going to depend on how many things you do or how many things you experience. The quality of your life is going to depend on how deeply you enjoy the doing and the experiencing. It's not about going fast and doing a lot of things, it's about living deeply in the things that you do do.

44:43SPEAKER_00:And much of Garcia's writings and maxims do revolve around this idea of happiness. We just mentioned right there, not living in a hurry, trying to live deep. He then dives into this idea that as humans, you always need to be after something. Leave something to wish for, he says, so as not to be miserable from very from happiness. The body must respire and the soul aspire. If one possessed all, all would be disillusioned and discontent. Even in knowledge, there should be always something left to know in order to arouse curiosity and excite hope.

45:12SPEAKER_00:In giving assistance, it is a piece of policy not to satisfy entirely. If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness. When desire dies, fear is born. Here's another one, here's another good one from Garcian. Peaceful life, a long life. To live, let live. Peacemakers not only live, they rule life. Hear, see, and be silent. A day without dispute brings sleep without dreams. Long life and a pleasant one is life enough for two.

45:40SPEAKER_00:That is the fruit of peace. He has all that makes nothing of what is nothing to him. There is no greater perversity than to take everything to heart. There is equal folly in troubling our heart about what does not concern us, and is not and in not taking to heart what does not. This is great. He has all that makes nothing of what is nothing to him. There is no greater perversity than to take everything to heart. And something Garcia comes back to again and again in his writing is virtue.

46:09SPEAKER_00:Good living is good character, he believed. Words and deeds make the perfect man, he writes. One should speak well and act honorably. The one is an excellence of the head, the other of the heart. And both arise from the nobility of the soul. And then he gives just like a really good motto to live by. Always act as if your acts were seen. Basically, act as if someone was always watching. That's something we hear all the time. And then Garcian mentions this point of being self-sufficient that I found really interesting.

46:35SPEAKER_00:The sage should be self-sufficing. Whom could such a man want if there is no clearer intellect or finer taste than his own? He would then depend on himself alone. Which is the highest happiness and like the supreme being? He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything. That's like a good question. Can you depend solely on yourself for for joy? Can you can you alone bring yourself happiness and peace?

47:01SPEAKER_00:Can you be just with yourself and be at harmony? I think that's one of the best dates that you can ever reach in life. This is something we we already saw with Garcia earlier, but and this is this is something we see with a lot of people that we study. But when you can, you want to get as close as you can to those with knowledge. Garcia writes, have knowledge or know those that have knowledge. Without intelligence, either one's own or another's, like true life is impossible.

47:23SPEAKER_00:And then there's two other things from Garcia that I love. The first is about beliefs and views. He says, do not hold your views too firmly. Every fool is fully convinced, and everyone fully persuaded is a fool. The more erroneous his judgment, the form more firmly he holds it. I I think it's important to like not adopt beliefs too quickly. Like you want to adopt beliefs slowly and even to constantly question your own beliefs and why you believe what you you do believe.

47:51SPEAKER_00:Like you're going to be wrong in many things. And keeping yourself open to changing your ideas or or open to slowly believing a certain belief or a certain thing, I think is a great skill in life. And then maybe my favorite line comes from on this idea of beliefs, comes from Adam Grant, he's a professor. He says this the purpose of learning isn't to affirm our beliefs, it's to evolve our beliefs. The purpose of learning isn't to affirm our beliefs, but to evolve our beliefs.

48:17SPEAKER_00:And then Garcia has a passage on this idea of memory and forgetting that's worth sitting with. Be able to forgive. It is more a matter of skill, is more a matter of luck than of skill. The things we remember best are those better forgotten. Memory is not only unruly, leaving us in the lurch when most needed, but stupid as well, putting its nose into places where it is not wanted. In painful things it is active, but neglectful in recalling the pleasurable.

48:42SPEAKER_00:Very often the only remedy for the ills is to forget it, and all we forget is the remedy. Nevertheless, one should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a paradise or an inferno. The happy or an exception who enjoy innocently their simple happiness. I do think a good question to ask yourself is are you actually making a good use of your memory? I think that's it's it's it's an interesting thought experiment. Like, is it being used to only think about the ill or the unpleasurable?

49:09SPEAKER_00:Or can you develop a memory or develop a habit with your memory to the point where you spend more time recalling the ple recalling the pleasurable things in life than the the ill things in life? Is your memory working for you? It's a good question to ask. Now, with episodes like this, I often like to end them with a bunch of one-liners and short ideas that I love. So I want to do the same with Garcia here. It's a privilege of the mighty to surround themselves with the champions of intellect.

49:32SPEAKER_00:Knowledge and good intentions together ensure continuance of success. Work is the price which is paid for reputation. What costs little is little worth. We must know how to take a hint, especially in disabusing ourselves. He cannot make himself understood who does not himself easily understand. Bad execution of your designs does less harm than irresolution informing them. Action is dangerous where prudence is in doubt. Better leave such things alone.

49:57SPEAKER_00:The best remedy for disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down. There is no dessert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. This is the sole remedy against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul. The imagination always jumps too soon and paints things in brighter colors than the real. It thinks things not as they are, but as it wishes them to be. A great man takes more pleasure in doing a favor than in receiving one.

50:22SPEAKER_00:It is the privilege of his generous nature. Everyone speaks of a subject according to his feelings. Everything tastes better for having been without it. Even water from another's well tastes like nectar. Possession not alone hinders enjoyment, it increases annoyance, whether you lend or keep. The whole of life should be one course of thought. How not to miss the right path. Rumination and foresight enable one to determine the line of life. One may lose more on a day of pleasure than has been gained during a whole life of labor.

50:51SPEAKER_00:Philosophy itself is nothing but a meditation upon death. We must think about it often to do it well. There are four ways to know much. Live for many years, travel through many lands, read many good books, and converse with wise friends. As judge of ourselves, we are quick to find escape clauses and take bribes for our emotion. To know happiness, you must know its opposite. Only a hungry man relishes his food, and a thirsty one his drink. A tired one is dress.

51:14SPEAKER_00:Those who most treasure peace, a prolonged peace, are those who have gone through the misery of war. You will see many who do not relish their good because they have not tasted evils. And this, I would say that the happy person or the person who is happy is the one who has been unhappy. That's a wrap. I'm going to end it there. Check out the book by Baltasar Garcia and The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Like I mentioned, it's a book you can you can read in a day, and it's a book you can revisit any page anytime throughout the rest of your life because it's just a book of maxims and short passages that get you thinking.

51:45SPEAKER_00:So I'll leave a link to the book in the show notes below. And then if you're loving the show, share it as much as possible. Tell a friend, a coworker, anyone who might enjoy as much as you do. That support, you sharing it means the world to me, and it's the best thing you can do for the show. And then a short announcement. I don't think I've mentioned this, but we are now on YouTube. So if you want to watch the videos, if you want to look at my beautiful face for 45 minutes, an hour each week, you can do so on YouTube.

52:09SPEAKER_00:And I'll leave a link to our YouTube channel below where you can check that out. You guys are the absolute best. I appreciate the support. And until next time, peace.