Opinion: Learning to enjoy the symphony of life
The goal of the artist is not to solve a question irrefutably, but to force people to love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations. – Leo Tolstoy
This year has been a powerful reminder as to how chaotic life can be. These past few months have thrown the lives of many people out of sync, and the future appears to be very uncertain. It is in times like these that learning to embrace the chaotic and continually changing nature of life can be helpful. Through learning to accept the world as it is, and to see the beauty in it, we can find peace and be prepared for whatever life throws at us.
The basis of the Ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism is identifying the difference between things within our control and things outside of our control. One of the most prominent conclusions of Stoic thought is that there is no reason to worry about things outside of our control because we do not have control over them, and that there is no reason to worry about what we have control over, because we are in control over them. This reasoning applies to all areas of life, especially when life takes a sudden shift for the worse.
The truth is that we don’t control much of what happens in the greater world around us, so the best thing we can do is learn to accept reality as reality.
We often fight with nature, attempting to project our own preferences onto the world, but such a mindset is a recipe for disappointment. The Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius perhaps said it best when he said that “nothing is evil which is according to nature,” and nothing could be more true. It is simply the way that things are, not here for us to establish, but merely to spectate and hopefully, come to appreciate. In fact, even in situations that go beyond nature, that can only be described as evil, we can still find things to appreciate about life.
Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, and author of the famous book, “Man’s Search for Meaning” once said that “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” This is quite the sentiment, coming from a man who endured what is perhaps the greatest level of human depravity to ever exist on this planet. Yet even in his desperate situation, Frankl found a way to appreciate some aspects of the world around him.
Like a symphony, the world is composed of various parts, each with their own unique sound and tone. When only a single element is inspected, it may not seem like music, but when these parts play together, the hymn of life plays with a unified melody. In this song, there are ups and downs, fast and slow parts. Nevertheless, the elements continue to flow in harmony.
Most of us want a happy life. We largely expect our lives to follow a certain path, and we experience disappointment when life strays from this ideal. But just because life takes a chaotic turn, or sad things happen, does not mean that these sadder elements of life do not contain their own beauty.
Returning to the song example, the sad parts of the tune of life still possess their own majesty. Just because a story is tragic does not mean that it cannot be appreciated. A sad painting can still be beautiful. Life is still life, whether or not it is happy. And because it is still life, we can appreciate it for what it is. Instead of trying to imagine what this song should be, perhaps we should just stop, listen, and enjoy the music.
In these uncertain times, we can come to appreciate the world for what it is. There is beauty in all manifestations of life, just as there is beauty in all forms of art. Even if our lives have been turned upside down, we can come to appreciate the uncertainty as another one of life’s countless manifestations. Even in the most horrendous situations, for example, we can find great satisfaction in witnessing what the human spirit is capable of under tragedy.
Kristian Fors is a student at Utah State University majoring in Economics and is an opinion columnist for the Utah Statesman. He enjoys studying psychology, traveling, and living life as intentionally as possible.
— kfors@gmail.com
Graphic created by Keith Wilson.