by Dr. Gary B. Madison
What Socrates meant by living well was living in such a way that, when the need arises, one can confront with dignity and assurance the limit-situations in one’s life—such as, in Socrates’ own case, his trial, imprisonment, and execution. What makes life worth living are not life’s passions and pleasures, which come and go (“One day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy” i ), but the principles—the logos—in the light of which we attempt to live our lives.
In this regard, the road to truth is itself the truth, for where there is no striving, there can be no meaning. This is the Way or Dao spoken of by the ancient Confucians, and it is what Mencius called “actively awaiting one’s destiny (ming), in steadfastness of purpose” (see Mencius, 7A1 & 7B33). ii In matters of life and death, there is, of course, no such thing as “the one and only right way” (contrary to what the scientistic mentality and the modern obsession with “method” and standardized how-to techniques would have us believe).
All paths leading to an authentic mode of being-in-the-world have their twists and turns, are beset with obstacles, and occasionally run into dead-ends (humiliation and defeat are also part of life). True nobility comes from struggling against adversity—even when, in the end, those who do so struggle lose the battle.
Finding and pursuing what Confucius called the Middle Way (cf. Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean) is a matter of forging one’s own destiny through the daily exercise of practical or interpretive judgment (phronesis). There are many ways of following the Way; the Way, the Process, is whatever, given their unique circumstances, individuals must do for themselves in order to pursue with determination the task, which is universally binding on all alike (cf. Analects, 6.17), of becoming-human (zuoren). There are, in other words, many different kinds of human “callings” in the pursuit of which individuals can realize what is properly human in themselves. As it is said in the Yijing (I Ching, Book of Changes), “In the world there are many different roads, but the destination is the same” (“Appended Remarks,” pt. 2, ch. 5).
That having been said, it must be stated unequivocally that, however much technology and medicine may be able to come to our aid in some of the difficult situations of life, there are no scientific-technological shortcuts to “the good life” and no medicinal quick fixes for human well-being—“If you crave speed, you will never reach your goal” (Analects, 13.17)—for “the good life” is not merely a comfortable and healthy life as medicine and psychiatry conceive of it, i.e., a life blissfully free of illness, frailty, infirmity, anxiety, and suffering. A proper understanding of what it means to be human, which is to say, to “living in truth,” must of necessity resist the modernist attempt at technologizing human experiencing and medicalizing self-understanding. The only way to live truly is by patiently and persistently attempting to follow (in one’s own individual way) the arduous Way or Dao-process of wisdom and virtue and by seeking to live in harmony (he, as a Confucian would say) with Nature.
Following the Way—the Way of determination, fortitude, persistence, and patience—is a matter of learning to live in an affirmative recognition of the mystery of being. All paths leading to an authentic mode of being-in-the-world have their twists and turns, are beset with obstacles, and occasionally run into dead-ends (humiliation and defeat are also part of life). True nobility comes from struggling against adversity—even when, in the end, those who do so struggle lose the battle. Nonetheless, as one phenomenologist has rightly observed, “If in the encounter with mystery there is neither certainty nor even reasonable belief, there remains the imperative of hope.” As Paul Fairfield goes on to say: “The basic movement of life is toward more life—toward unceasing expansion and the anticipation of a future. It is a movement toward exuberance and self-affirmation, one that compels us to hope for some manner of personal survival beyond death, even as wisdom disciplines that hope.” iii The “imperative of hope” is synonymous with the will to believe and the will to meaning—and thus with life itself. The sentiment of hope—of striving and of deliverance—is one to which Oliver Wendell Holmes gave eloquent expression in his poem “The Chambered Nautilus,” in which the poet contemplates the abandoned and lifeless shell of a chambered nautilus—a unique and enigmatic creature of the sea that was an object of fascination for the ancient Greeks—that had washed up on the shore.
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,—
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren signs,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised celing rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathéd horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!
Hope in the proper sense of the term is not mere optimism, wishful thinking, or false cheer. Like faith in the unseen and the unknowable, it is a deep-seated (habitualized) existential disposition which consists, in the words of Mencius, in actively awaiting one’s destiny in steadfastness of purpose. True hope is without presumption; it is without illusions, is devoid of metaphysical conceits, and poses no demands. It is, when all is said and done, bound up with the wisdom and peace of mind that are themselves a simple matter of being able to respond to the mystery of being by learning to say, in a spirit of gratitude and humility, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job, 1:21). iv
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iAristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, 1098a19.
iiThe key word here is "actively".
iiiPaul Fairfield, Death and Life, 174-75.
ivA simple matter. . . Mencius said: "The Way is like a wide road. It is not at all difficult to find. The trouble with people is simply that they do not look for it" (6B2).
(Extracted from the paper 'On Suffering')
Dr. Gary B. Madison is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McMaster University. He is the author of numerous books and articles on phenomenology, hermeneutics, political philosophy, and economic theory. Professor Madison taught at McMaster from 1970 until his retirement in 1996. In the course of a long and distinguished career, Professor Madison supervised over 30 Ph.D. dissertations and M.A. theses.
Through his research, teaching, and graduate supervision, he has helped the McMaster-Guelph-Laurier Doctoral Program in Philosophy achieve an international profile within the field of Continental philosophy. Professor Madison was instrumental in setting up Hans-Georg Gadamer's visits to McMaster. He was among the original founders of The Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought in 1984. And his early involvement with the McMaster Globalization Institute helped launch an interdisciplinary project that continues today.
Although he is now retired, Professor Madison continues to assist the faculty as a member of dissertation committees and by offering reading courses.
