Lessons to Live by…
There was a Reader’s Digest publication named ‘How to Live with Life’. I found it to be very inspiring because it contained articles by great persons like Albert Einstein and James Michener. For me, that book was medicine for a battered soul, so much so that, after having derived great benefit from practicing the main lessons brought out in that book, I gave it away to a friend whom I found to be in psychological discomfort, because I imagined the book would help him as much as it had helped me and work like a tried and tested medicine. Almost 40 years have gone by, but I could not replace that book in my collection for ready reference and revision. Now, on reflection, I feel there are some of its lessons I should share with everyone, as I have found them to be very effective.
There are two articles in that book which I recall: ‘Never Stop Learning’ by James Michener, and another called ‘Take a Holiday from Caution’.
The article by James Michener was one that started with World War II and the huge recruitment drive by the US military at that time. Three prospective aspirants appeared before the selection committee. James Michener was the first to be interviewed.
“What are your accomplishments and skills, young man?” barked the Sergeant.
“Sir,” replied Michener, “I have graduated in the English letters. In the later part of my course, the faculty called me and my classmates and said: ‘Dear students, we have decided not to take any lectures on conventional subjects. Our instructions to you are to define and pursue your own academic goals. At the end of the year, we will examine you on the results of your efforts and decide whether to give you a Bachelor of Arts degree.’ I chose the ‘Art of the Novel’ as my personal pursuit and could see a pattern in how novels have been written.”
“Next!” yelled the Sergeant, and then in stepped a law graduate.
“What have you done? What have you got to offer your country?” asked the recruiter.
“I have studied the basics of many areas in the legal domain. This facilitates the smooth functioning of all kinds of relationships: domestic, international, commercial, medical…”
He too was rejected. Then the third candidate entered, expanded his chest and asserted, “I can overhaul diesel engines.”
“You are our man,” said the soldier. “You are hired.”
Michener then writes about where the three men were after the war ended: he himself became a famous writer, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his book ‘Tales of the South Pacific’; the lawyer had become the chief legal adviser to the commander of NATO; and the third man was still overhauling diesel engines…
I recall that the second article, ‘Take a Holiday from Caution’, mentioned, “If you look too long, you will never leap.” That was another lesson…
In my experience, healing through reading, i.e. bibliotherapy, is the most effective. Even Mahatma Gandhi read the Bhagavad Gita to beat the blues. Millions have found solace by reading the Holy Bible, the Quran, the words of Ramana Maharshi, Guru Nanak and the Buddha, and the timeless life lessons to be read and practiced from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and the essay ‘The Way to Wealth’ given in it, as well as from the written and spoken words of philosophers like Alan Watts and writers like Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale and Kalidas. The list is limited by my ignorance…