The most beautiful state of mind and heart The idea is to talk about this theme this afternoon. The most beautiful state of mind and heart. It is actually a text, a text of an author called Sri Ram, where we will address some ideas. Obviously I will not work with the entirety of this text. Our intention within the Day of Philosophy was to work with physical health, then a little bit of psychological health within the focus of philosophy, obviously, and later our national director will work a little more with the aspects of inner life, elements more,
let's say, internal and more related to philosophy. However, all three lectures have points in common, of course. So let's talk about quality of life, about the point of view of philosophy, the point of view of mental, emotional, and it is evident that the three lectures intertwine. So the idea is to talk a little about quality of life. Today it is a very common theme, addressed in various areas, in various ways. Sometimes when I see all the focus, sometimes excessive, that has been done around this topic, I stop to realize, I don't know if you've ever
tried it, that many times it is not about quality, it is about quantity. Well, to have a better standard of living, in better standards, only talk about quantity. A greater quantity of goods, a greater quantity of recognition, a greater quantity of love, whatever it is. Quantity, quantity, quantity. Will it really, when we have all this quantity, will it really generate quality there in the future? Will it generate this result that we are waiting for? This is the question I would like to ask you today, in this little chat with you. What do we want from
life? An interesting question, let's imagine this boat. What do we want from life? I know clearly, I've already asked myself this question, I have clearly established what is my goal in life, where do I want to get with this, or have I delegated to someone to think about it for me? Is it clear to me what is the purpose, where do I want to get? And this purpose, if I made it clear, is a purpose that really refers to what I want to be, or what I want to do, or what I want to have,
which participates, but it's not everything. It's like you imagine that the owner of this boat, you ask him, what do you want from life? Well, I want to have a better boat than this one. You will say to him, well, but this is the means of transport, where do you want to get with this boat? And I didn't think about that, I just thought about the boat. Isn't that curious? Wouldn't you think that at least the citizen is a little alienated? Because he thinks about the means and doesn't think about the ends. And many times
we would answer more or less the same thing as this alienated boat owner. I want to have many means, but where do I want to get with all this? What do I need all these means for? Are they really necessary to build that goal I want to reach? To get to the port where I want to get, do I really need this boat with which I dream? What port is this? Many times we delegate this choice. This is one of the most disturbing questions that exists within philosophy. Where do I want to get? It seems
that everything is a little standardized, and we run through some lanes that have already been built since we were born, that tell us where all human beings should go, what they should wish for, even what they should dream. And we don't stop to question, is this really what I want? Is this really what would qualify my life? In other words, we are here to make some reflections, generate some concerns, and that maybe we will leave here with some clues closer to an answer. Package and happiness. It is not difficult to imagine what is considered today
as the package of happiness. There is a minimum and maximum happiness. There is even a structure that you must have heard of, which is called Maslow's pyramid, which talks about these needs, from the basic ones to the highest ones, between quotes, even the most sophisticated ones. What would be the minimum happiness package? A survival with comfort and safety. Isn't that it? Well, I survive, I have all the conditions to survive well. A good house, I have health, I have a family that also has these things, health, they are well structured economically and safe. This is
the minimum happiness package. In general, people are not satisfied with just that. They would like to have more. Then comes the maximum happiness package. What will that be? Look how this euphoric contentment reached the maximum happiness package. The maximum happiness package is a lot of everything you already had. So if I already had a house, a bigger house. If I already had comfort, more comfort. If I already had pleasures, more pleasures. If I already had, I don't know, fun, more fun. And how is this going to end in general? People who reach the maximum happiness
package, that we will see that in general there are not so many like that, how do they do? Do they really have quality of life? Do they realize themselves? It is interesting that we look at society, people around us, making a little philosophical reflection about what people have, what they have sought, and what they have found in life. Not with the intention of criticizing them, but with the intention of maybe finding our own paths and knowing if that's really what we want. People who find this maximum happiness package, many times when they get it, you
realize that they are not happy. If we were to observe countries of the first world, where there is a very high level of social prosperity, a level of social rights, a very high level of consumption standards, you should know that it is also in these countries that high levels of suicide, juvenile suicide, of people with depression and sometimes without much sense of life coincide. Sometimes we stop to think that the fact that we do not have all these material goods that we dream of, in a way protects us, because we think we are unhappy because
of it. If we had, we would be happy. And if you had and were not happy? Imagine the anguish, the emptiness. Well, what now? What is missing? Society has no answer? Do we have answers to that? Is it considered a misalignment? And so much thinking about it as a misalignment, sometimes it really becomes. So this maximum happiness package, when it is obtained, in general ends in a certain emptiness, which does not satisfy, does not bring this quality of life that is sought. And when it is not obtained? Which is the majority of cases. When we
do not get it, then things get a little complicated. And then comes the storm, the frustration, the unhappiness, an eternal projection of what we deserved, of what we wanted and did not have. And how does this resolve? Through fantasy. We will have a little picture ahead just to talk about it. In other words, it is a way of simulating what we would like to have had, in an imaginary field where everything is possible. And this is very socially induced. So comes all this frustration and this fantasy tendency. So from this path, which is what society
puts us in, as quality of life and human achievement, you have these two alternatives. Who is getting? How is it? Who is not getting? What is the majority? How is it? Well, let's analyze deeply. And these answers that society puts me? Are they the same? Are there other possibilities? Are there other ways of us, of realizing ourselves, of having quality of life? In general, one of the greatest fallacies that exist, you must have heard me talk about this so-called fallacy of the excluded third. It is one of the most famous in logic. It is of
the type, love or leave. How so? There is no third possibility? That is, there are many other possibilities. But this fallacy that we practice a lot within society, just puts it. Either you get this success or you don't get this success. And another success? Does not exist? There is no other possibility besides this duality? Well, let's think a little about it. Solution? Fly. Colored and individual balloons offered to everyone, easy, obtained with great ease, which is cultural induction to fantasy. Fantasy is a very curious thing. Imagination is a virtue, fantasy is a vice. Because imagination
projects something that you will realize in the future. Fantasy is realized in itself and replaces reality. So it generates a colorful, easy balloon, and many times socially induced. Do you realize that our generation is one of the most scattered that we have ever known in history? Of the most evasive. It is impressive how people tend to, new generations, young people who are coming, this is very observable. How they tend to be scattered, with difficulty concentrating. Fantasy addiction tends to, when we want to cling to reality, sometimes we can't. It generates fleas, it generates unfolds. It
really turns into a addiction. Why? Imagine you, I want to be a great pianist. To be a great pianist, it's not easy. For those who have someone who studies piano at home, knows that this is sacrificed for those who study and for all residents of the same house. Isn't that it? And this is years in a row, from what I've seen. Because there is a case like this in my house. That is, it is sacrificed. It's not easy. Well, I close my eyes and at this moment I am a great concertist. People applaud me standing
up and I realize it. This replaces reality. And the most curious thing is, when this becomes socially induced, if you stop to make a small mathematical calculation, which is very common, that is discussed and talked about it today, if you are going to realize what is put as happiness, as a realization, as a quality of life, in the present day, it is a consumption pattern of an average American man. This is globalized. In four corners of the world everyone dreams of being like this. A minimum consumption pattern of an average American man. We know that
7 billion human beings consuming this, you don't have a planet for 10 years. This is mathematically impossible. So it won't happen. So we are doomed to dream something that is, in most cases, unreachable. Where are we going? To fantasy. And this path is already illuminated and signaled, even culturally induced. A whole series of elements that make this fantasy, many times, even shared. Then I'm going to tell you a case, that maybe you've already lived something like that. Shared fantasy. One fine day, I arrived in my work environment, for those who don't know, New Acrópolis is
a voluntary work, therefore all of us who are teachers here, we are not paid, so we are professionals somewhere else. And I arrived at my workplace, and there was a very disheartened group, talking about a problem that had happened to someone. I don't remember the person's name. But you saw someone, what a sad thing. And now, how is she going to do? And I was worried about that. Go, go, who is someone who needs help, right? Let me go there and offer my help. And I said, what happened? Who is this person? Ah, but you
are very alienated. She is the heroine of the soap opera, Eighteen. You didn't see what happened to her? No, I didn't see. Ah, you live in another world. Fortunately. But I found it curious, it's the vivacity of the feeling that was provoking it. The vivacity of the suffering of those people, it seemed real. In other words, it is an induced and collective fantasy, and contagious, it seems. And the whole group lives that, tastes that as if it were a reality. A substitution of reality. And many times it makes another joke that is curious. You must
have been through that. Every time we get in there, we hardly escape from entering an MSN of life. In a corner there is that column, Curious Famosities. It's so interesting, people are so curious to know what others are doing. They are not very curious anymore, to know what others are. And the worst, they are not very curious, sometimes, to know what they are. People are very curious to look at their Facebook and see what you are doing. But who are you? What are your dreams? Where do you want to go with all this? No one
is very interested in that. Therefore, our inner self is not part of the Famosities. It is absolutely anonymous, in general, even for ourselves. Anyway, this fantasy is the way out, for that standard of quality of life when it is not reached. We escape, in a colorful, selfish and individual balloon. And it is absolutely illusory. Happy human being. In general, what is the envied human being within society? Is it famous? Is it beautiful? Is it rich? Is it loved by everyone? Very questionable thing, right? We realize that sometimes these people, in fact, sometimes, no, almost always,
we can look for examples in the past and very close examples in the present, that these people are not actually loved, they are consumed, like any other consumer object. No one cares to know what they really are. They standardize a massification, a fashion, and are consumed and discarded, sometimes cruelly. So we see, from the most remote cases in history, a Marilyn Monroe, to more recent cases, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, and so on. How many of these? How many of these are consumed, wear the popular costume, and then are discarded? Are these people really that happy?
Are these who reach these social standards of fame, beauty, sometimes wealth, are so loved like that? Do they really find that? It is questionable, and we see this constantly happening. These days I came across a bookstore with a book recently published, which was nothing less than Marilyn Monroe's diary. You will wonder why interests, why water charges? I went to browse a diary by Marilyn Monroe. I found it curious, I went to see more or less what was said, what was said of news about Marilyn Monroe at this time of the championship, and curiously I stumbled
upon a page where she, anguished, said exactly that. No one is minimally interested in knowing who I really am, and maybe not even I am. This placement caught my attention, I found it so painful. No one is minimally interested in knowing who I really am, and maybe not even I am. These are the famousities, these are the famousities of MSN. Questioning our dreams. Let's stop to ask, do we really want these things? And if we want, what do we want from them? Because to say that it is true, that we really want, that there is
something in them that is pleasant, what? Do these things really have something to offer us of realization, of quality of life? What are we looking for through them? Things I say, beauty, fame, wealth and love. Do we want? Well, maybe yes. But what do we want? What is it that they can really give us? Is it this quality of life that we dream? Let's stop to question this a little. Let's talk first of all about beauty. In general, considering a more or less superficial vision, what people understand by having beauty is to have physical beauty.
That's what everyone is looking for. Everyone does, in general, I don't say everyone, but the vast majority, goes to the limit of their possibilities to detain this physical beauty. And yet, they lose it. Because it is inexorable. There is not much possibility of detaining nature. The beautiful and splendid rose dies tomorrow. That is, the matter does not retain beauty. And no matter what we do with it, it goes away. So, in general, this generates frustration. We can see these, who are famous through beauty, how they age. How hard it is to age. How hard it
is to accept this inexorable law of nature. Neither they, nor their audience, in general, do not accept. Well, when the cups wear out, that is, when the appearances go away, what remains of this beauty that is so hard to seek? Well, can beauty be retained? In some way, traditional philosophers say it can. It can be retained, if you seek beauty in more lasting plans. Plato has something very well known, which is called the Eros Path. Where he said, running after beauty, man can reach God. Have you ever heard of it? Where he says, in general,
man runs after beautiful bodies. Then he realizes that beautiful bodies do not retain beauty. Very quickly, it goes away. But they realize that there is something beyond the bodies in men, which sometimes are very beautiful. If a person is fair, is honored, is fraternal, is generous, imagine someone very generous, very altruistic, this is very beautiful. And this can be taken for a lifetime. Some traditions say that even more than that. This is a beauty that is much more lasting. Therefore, man starts to run after this beauty. And he says, well, there comes a certain moment
when he starts to ask, where do all these beauties inspire? He goes to the ideal of beauty, he goes to the metaphysical, he goes to God. If we realize this ability to seek beauty in more subtle plans, we have invested very little. We invest a lot in the body, but very little in the beauty of the soul. This has not been, in general, our main concern. We do not have very well-famous beauty salons. We have sought very little. And realize that it is a curiosity, because even for the most materialists, this generates physical effects. It
generates. Any person with a slightly more symbolic vision, which is said to be the symbolic vision is the requinte of the human mind. Any person with a pinch of symbolic vision, does not look at someone and see if this person, for example, is lazy, is bad-intentioned. Even the cartoons when they start, they already do that facial rictus, that you already know who is the good, the bad, the lazy, the funny. Isn't that it? Disney is a specialist in this. That portrays reality a little. Someone who has a more symbolic vision, clearly realizes who has qualities,
who has virtues and who does not have, because this is external. This is the myth of Pinocchio, the fairy tale of Pinocchio, which has a lot of symbolic. Our defects deform us, our virtues embellish us. And someone who sees a little more beyond the superficial layer of the skin, will look and will realize. Well, but materialistic and superficial men do not see anything, but is this one you want to be admired? What a lack! Are these the ones you want to be admired? Are they the most superficial? Or are they the ones that have a
little more depth? That are able to see deeper things by parallelism. They are deep, they come with greater depth. What is the human being you want to find beautiful? These are things to be thought about too. So think about what we want from beauty, including what kind of beauty we want, including what kind of person we want to find beautiful. Right? Well, what else? Of riches. This question of wealth is very curious. Imagine, I don't have a car. I bought a car. What a wonder! My quality of life has improved. No doubt. I bought the
second one. Well, if I have one more person in the house, she will use one, I will use another. My quality of life has improved. I bought the third one. I bought the fourth one. I bought the fifth car. Does this continue to improve my quality of life? What am I going to do with these cars? Am I going to use each one, matching the color of the clothes of the day? Do you realize that there comes a certain moment that nothing improves anymore? Well, I have a house with a tight room, I can't receive
a guest, two quarters, three quarters, ten quarters, it doesn't improve anymore, but I don't occupy more than a quarter. My quality of life doesn't improve at all. This is mathematically proven through research that has already been done. Increased well-being, an increase in possessions. There is an ascending curve in the first moments. When you get out of zero and start to reach the first material goods, you have a steep curve. Then it stabilizes. Do you know what happens at a certain moment, people? It starts to fall. How curious, right? Because it is evident, people begin to
realize that society offers no other alternative than to have. And they have, have, have, and they don't realize it anymore. There is no quality of life. This begins to generate frustration. Instead of gaining satisfaction, they lose. Instead of gaining quality of life, they lose. And it seems that this will be progressive, as age comes, and that the natural existential anguish of this moment comes. I always quote in my lectures, almost all of them I talk about it, because I find it very interesting, a research that was done on occasion by a psychiatrist, a thanatologist, who
treated terminal diseases, this is a thanatologist, where she, after 30 years of profession, she said, the more materialistic the human being is, the less likely he is to remain lucid before death. Because he realizes that necessarily all the things in which he invested his life will lose them all. And he gets empty-handed. Too late to reverse this. So, a terrible existential anguish. Consciousness is given by contrast, according to the Eastern theory of impact. In contrast between one color and another, between white and black, I realize what is white and what is black. If the whole
universe were white, I would not be aware of white. In contrast between life and death, I realize what life is. And maybe I also realize what death is. And then I will realize that all that I had, maybe it wasn't exactly what I wanted. Too late. This becomes inconsistent at a time when there are no more choices. So this wealth is curious, because it declines from a certain point. And it goes away. Until it reaches a null point. So it doesn't grow, the satisfaction, the quality of life, does not grow immeasurably, as the wealth grows.
Contrarily to what we think. Well, and this citizen who has so much wealth, does he have it himself? They liked it, right? See what a sleep of the just. Does he own it himself? Is it a wealth too? Maybe it's the greatest of all wealth. Look, I have my doubts. I own my car, which is parked out there. When I want to guide him in one direction, I guide him. When I want to supply him, when I want to do maintenance, I do. He obeys my commands, I take him where I want. I own my
vehicle, car, which is out there. Now I own myself, will I? Can I, for example, control my oscillations? Of fury, of cholera, and of sadness, of depression? Can I control my circular mental forms? That do not leave me quiet? When I want to concentrate, sometimes that constantly running in my mind, sometimes days to the end, like the same circular mental form, when I say, stop, does it stop? No, that's where it runs even more. Can I control my oscillations? Can I control my emotional forms, which are a roller coaster? Do they live like that? I
can't. So I control my car, which is out there, much better than myself. So am I really the owner of myself? And see why. When you have material possessions, things, the amount increases, the line of satisfaction declines. And when a man has himself, does this line of satisfaction decline? Today I master my mental forms more than yesterday. I can concentrate to think about what I consciously chose to think. I can keep my emotions stable. I do not oscillate back and forth between euphoria and depression. I have the boundaries of my attention, of my concentration, of
my imagination. As this increases, does the satisfaction decline? Does the quality of life decline? Or is it always growing? That is, this kind of possession has no decline, it only has an ascension. It is guaranteed. But even so, we do not seek. Isn't it interesting? It is a possession that has no contraindications, does not generate any kind of regret. But still, it is not our priority to possess ourselves. Continuing. Fame. Want to project yourself in general, just like this cat, on others. Because you are famous, because someone who did not have, is down there looking
at you. I always joke with my students and say the following. Imagine you come to your mother, and say, mother, I took first place, in a competition, in a sports competition, in anything. And she says, how good my son! How many took first place? 100,000. All candidates took first place. Her satisfaction is over. She left. She will be even apathetic, like this, what can I do, my son? Our standard of fame in society, someone has to have failed, to be grateful for your victory. Your fame, your success, you see? You have to win over, you
can't win with. This is not funny at all. And then you come to me to talk about fraternity. How fraternity in these terms? Realize that there we have some very curious contradictions within the way we think of life. Our standard of happiness is like that of this kitten, over someone, always. And what is it really that we are looking for when we dream of fame? In general, at least what I believe, it's my theory, it may be wrong, I think we want to get out of the mass. We want to somehow differentiate ourselves. There is
something inside us dying of asphyxia, of having to follow a pattern so equal to everyone. But these people who reach fame, have they left the mass? Quite the opposite, they created the patterns of the mass. They are the model of the mass. And they die in general anonymous, as we were talking about a little while ago. Not only for the public, but even for themselves. Unknown to themselves. They embody the pattern of the mass perfectly, they did not leave the mass. I think it's legitimate, because in fact this is not a search for fame, deep
down, it's a search for individuality. Which is a legitimate search for the human being. That he tries to reflect the way society allows, the way society understands, the way he was educated to recognize this. Is it fame? No, it's identity. It's individuality. This, yes, brings satisfaction. But it is very different from what we call today social projection or fame. In general, these people are the most massified. The ones who have the least identity, individuality. Therefore, perhaps this does not bring us what we are expecting. That is, fame at the price of not knowing who you
are. And in general, it is like that. Massification generates a very curious effect. We do not know, if our thoughts are ours. And in general they are not. We do not know if our feelings are ours. And in general they are not. Just ask yourself. Because our answers are almost reflexive, automatic. Do you like this thing? No. Then stop, pause, and stop asking yourself. Why not? What was the situation of life that I reflected on and came to the conclusion that this thing is not good? I lived a situation like that? No, but I heard
someone say it was not good. And I stuck. Do you like this person? No. We have in society true waves of rejection and collective rejection. We like this character, we do not like this other. No one asks why. I already did some deep research to know what this person really was. I really chose not to like it because I have principles and this does not coincide with my principles. I made a conscious choice. No, but they told me it was like that. Everyone said. So I went on the wave. Then we die of fear of
human cloning. We are already cloned anyway. Because, psychically, most of our thoughts and feelings are not ours. Well, but what a sad thing. You will tell me that most of my feelings are not my own thoughts. I do not have. This is a great observation. Because then it's time to start. It's a great observation, it's not bad. Philosophically, it's wonderful. Welcome to the real world. Now you've discovered what you don't have. Good moment, let's go down the waves and let's work to have it. Real world. Let's start building ourselves. Well, to be loved by everyone.
Love. Well, love is a very legitimate thing. It's natural that we want. But is it really love that we are looking for? What is it? Is it to be loved or to be used? Because one thing is ... Plato talked a lot about the three worlds. Which is the physical world, the emotional world, which we call psychic, and the spiritual world. He said that true love is only true when it is built from top to bottom. That is, we have deep human affinity. And not just psychic or material affinity. Because it's not just materially that
we use ourselves. It is very common that we see and there is even a certain art with people who use themselves physically as a source of pleasure. But we also use ourselves psychically as a source of comfort, of affection, of company, for fear of loneliness, to fit into social standards of acceptance. Because the good man or the good woman must have a companion and a family. There are many reasons that consider the other very little. They consider themselves very little. There is very little depth, it is very superficial. And this is no longer the use
of the other. It is another type of use. There is the physical use, where you use the other as if you were using a bar of chocolate. You simply taste the roughest aspect. This is vulgar and in general we reject it. At least in most cases, I believe. But the psychic is very common, it is the standard. We are with the other for fear of loneliness, for need of affection. It has much more to do with needs and my needs than a deep knowledge of the other's soul and a deep desire to add so that
he really grows as a human being. The demands of true love are very great. Plato said, you have to start from top to bottom. Start in the spiritual, start in the ideal, where men share great things, dreams, want to make a difference in the world, want to be better, want to help people around them to be better, want to be a sum factor in the lives of some. They don't just do business. This is a curious thing that they realize. He said that horizontal relationships are always very close to business. That is, don't take it
from here, I give affection and receive affection, I make company and receive company. If you give affection and receive nothing, you already have a conjugal crisis. Isn't that right? If you don't receive a kiss, you are lazy. There is a very commercial, very horizontal exchange. True love, you are satisfied with the other's fulfillment, you don't expect anything in return, it is generous, it is altruistic. Realize yourself as a sum factor in the lives of people around you and unite people for what they have of better. So that by being with people, they grow as human
beings. How many of these do we have in our lives? How many of these? How many of these? And then we get to that desert that I told you about. Culminating in a desert. When we look and realize that we don't have many relationships like that, that they are complex to build, and that we didn't even know that this possibility exists, now we know. Well, I'm in a desert, then. I'm not the owner of my thoughts, I'm not the owner of my feelings, I don't build deep loves, I'm in a desert. As I said, this
can be considered negative, it's hard to do, but it's a good adventure, a good saga. This is humanizing yourself. And this observation is very good, because this observation is in the real world, it is no longer in fantasy. Even though it may seem desolate, this is in the real world. So it's a good start. It depends on the point of view you look at it, whether to say that this is bad or good. It's that silly joke that people usually do, of the pessimist and the optimist, that you must know several versions. There was a
lot of construction material scattered, a lot of ruins. I said, look, what a horror, what a sadness, what a disgrace, they gave me a crumbling building. Then the other came and found that pile of rubble, then he arrived, what a wonder, they gave me a terrain and construction material, I can start. That is, this is a person who sees things in a positive way, you can already know where to start. In the real world, this is the real world. We don't have feelings of heredity, well, let's see how he builds it. Maybe this standard of
quality of life that society offers me is not what I want, let's see what I want. Then we will go to the construction of ourselves, maybe, according to another pattern. Real achievements are an adventure, and therefore require spirit of adventure. Then you will say, I don't have, I have, I guarantee you have. Once I had an experience that I found very curious, silly, but very curious. I got in a rental car and talked to a boy from the counter, and he said, I asked him, I had the idea of asking what was the genre that
rented the most. Imagining that I was going to listen to romance, fiction, or something like that. Adventure, look, most of it is adventure. Most of the titles that are rented are adventure. I found that very curious, does a modern man like adventure? Isn't that curious? Where does he like it? Only on a screen, while he is comfortably on his sofa eating a popcorn? But he didn't develop a capacity to realize that it can be lived and not just watched. It can be protagonized, overcoming limits, growth, humanizing yourself. All this is an adventure. Sometimes quite arduous,
sometimes quite difficult, but it's curious, because when we are young, teenagers, sometimes not so young, when they put us in an adventure, a game, a challenge, we feel instigated and challenged. And the next moment, the combo, and when they put us in an adventure, we get discouraged and think that this is not for us. I took exactly the example of a game, so that we could reflect a little about it. As in games, we have a student who recently did here at school, Saulo, a lecture about games, and I stuck some ideas because I found
it very interesting. In general, we like games. Why do we like it? Young and not so young, isn't it Saulo? Why do we like it? Let's stop for a moment to reflect a little about it. I wanted to make some reflections that I found very interesting. Clear goals. Or you open a game, what do you have to conquer? I don't know, discover, turn around. Right from the beginning, it is clear what you have to conquer. Well, you have to beat an antagonist, you have to destroy a certain monster. It is clear what the goal is.
From that, seeing the clear goal, you have an enthusiastic player. Well, life is also the same thing. The goal is to win, everything has to be clear. The man has to have a clear ideal of life, that is much more in the field of being than in the field of having. The field of having is wonderful as a means, but it is not enough to justify life. Because if you only have the field of having, you reach that limit where we start to have, have, have things, and there comes a certain moment that is no
longer worth it, it no longer tastes good. Having is great as a means, but the purpose has to always be in the field of being. That is, what am I going to build in myself? The domain that I will have about myself. This is the realization, this is the port of that boat. When we see this as clarity, this historically in philosophy were called idealists, they had an ideal and loved it. Idealists are usually players very enthusiastic, very excited, with a lot of motivation for life. They know where they want to go. Therefore, all tools
become valid. Let's see a little about that. Difficulties as challenges. Difficulties as challenges. Have you ever imagined a game like this? That you get there, press a button, and you win. How so? And by the way, this is in everything, in every imaginary juvenile child. I remember when my daughter was little and I told fairy tales to her. And she already noticed that. There came a time when she was very funny, because she experienced fairy tales with tremendous intensity and I told Snow White, and she said, because she is a witch, she is evil, she
is terrible. And at one point she stopped like that, and froze. Well, right, mom? But if she wasn't a witch, there was no story. I said, it's true, my daughter. Have you ever thought that this would be funny? The prince met the princess, they got married, and they were happy forever. The story is over. Impossible, no one would stand such a thing. It's tedious. There are difficulties and they are challenges. Life is also like that, it has tests. To reach levels of qualification, because in the game it is like that. You win challenges, there are
no levels. I see the boys even disputing between them. At what level have you already reached? Oh, I've already reached level 3. Oh, I've been more, I've been less. That is, it reaches certain levels of performance, when you face difficulties and it is victorious. Life is also like that. It reaches levels of maturity, of self-domination and of achievement, when it faces difficulties as tests and assimilates them experience to give the answer to life. It is also exactly like that. Continuing. What else do we have in the games? Learn to handle tools. It is also like
that. Each level has its tools. It seems that they become more complex every time you go up the level. And if you learn to handle the game tools well and do such a thing, and the character flies, the character of the chameleon, of course you can win that stage much more easily. What are the tools of the human being? Many. Will, imagination, intelligence, organization, integrity, self-knowledge. All of these are tools. They are within the game. Didn't you read the game manual? In general, we don't read. Within the game conditions, we have tools. I always joke
with my students about this, because today we buy a liquidator from Arno with two speeds. It comes with a manual in five languages. For you to learn to do click, click. Isn't that so? In relation to human life, they didn't tell us anything. These tools, how do we use them? What are they for? They serve to level up within this game of life. We have to learn to handle them. We have to see the taste it has. Because this transfers the satisfaction of things, of having, to being. To experience within myself, to live this adventure.
This elevates me to other levels within this great game that is life. In fact, we don't invent things, we copy. Ok? Continuing, what else do we have? Go to the tutorial. No? When it's not the tutorial, it's the manual. When it's not the manual, it's those websites on the internet that say how do I solve such a problem? How do I beat such a little monster? Then there's everyone who has already won, puts the instructions there. It even seems like I'm playing, right? It's a little bit of a surprise. In fact, it would be very
difficult to start playing a game without resorting to any of these things. It would be a great waste of time. I'm not going to read the manual, I'm not going to the tutorial, I'm not going to see anything and I'm going to learn just by moving. Well, it's a great waste of time and a very high margin of error until you get all this that is already written. Go there and read. You already start in a very good domain pattern. We can say that the tutorial of life was created through philosophy. All the men who
wanted to move forward the way they lived, because they got a good performance, they left this portrayed. Who knows how to play, likes to teach. In general, good players are also good teachers. Who knows how to play, likes to teach. Men who had good domains of themselves, men who were brilliant from the point of view of imagination, intelligence, organization, love, self-control. We have many works that are very important to us. We call it a philosophical tradition. They are a tutorial. Why can't we start from where these men stopped? If we do this with technology, nobody
starts from scratch. Nobody starts doing 14-B's when they learn aeronautical engineering. Everyone starts from where the other generations went. Why can't we resort to the tutorial of life? Or do you think there is nothing to learn with all these men if they knew to acquire high levels within what we call performance for life? Because they were human beings, wise, fair, whole. Why can't we learn from them and start from where they stopped? Why can't we resort to a tutorial? The whole structure of philosophy is based on this. Carl Jung said that when we learn from
our ancestors, we give a breath of life to our past. We justify their existence. And that's how it is. So philosophy is like a life tutorial. It is the art of living. It was always known in the classical period in this way. It was not a tutorial, but it was the art of living. Life is also virtual. This is a more complex thing, but there is something to notice. The little boy did a lot of things on the screen, he flew, went there, fought karate. You turn off the screen. What's left of all this? What?
The ability you developed within you to deal with these things does not die when you turn off the screen. It stays within you. The experience you accumulated, the domain of the factors you accumulated, the development of skills you generated, it stays with you when the screen turns off. This is real. The game ends. Do you think life is not like that? Virtual, temporary. Just see the myth of the cave of Plato, which was repeated so many times, for example, the first Matrix, was nothing more than a cinematic recreation of the myth of the cave of
Plato. Reality is very questionable. For the classical standards, nothing that is temporary is real. It's fleeting. It's like a theater set up for us to live an experience. And if this is so fleeting and so temporary and so doubtful from the point of view of reality, what will stay of all this? The skills we develop within us, the human virtues, the process of humanization we live. When you turn off the screen, this will stay. According to these traditions, we are not the only ones. What we built internally is real. Welcome to the real world. This
is real. The rest, there is a certain moment when the force of the universe presses the button and turns off the screen. This is not real as it seems. These are very temporary, very intrascendent, very fleeting, they slip through our fingers. Nothing that is really yours can be taken from you. But what we build inside, no one takes it away. Not even a little button takes it away. The construction of oneself is a real goal. Certainly. From the moment we direct all our life to this, we can say, the closer I get, the more quality
of life I have. This generates a better response capacity to life, a better satisfaction as a human being. This is a measurable thing. Nobody takes it away from me. As life goes on, I can contribute more to the world around me, the more I have. So it's that old example that I give so many times. When we build a house, the first thing we do is the house's plant. The architect gives us everything drawn up. And the day the master of works starts working there, when he knows what to do today, to know what he
has to do today, he will look at the plant, he will look at the finished work. And that's how we should be, to improve our lives. If we know where we want to go, we direct the day to today, we give it sense to be loose. So there is no day that is vain, that is lost, that is tedious, because I have a work to build. And every day is a step in the direction of this work, everything is justified. And I know if I'm growing or decreasing, I'm standing still, I have a verifiable pattern.
I can see what's going on with my life, because I know where I want to go. I'm an idealist. And this is, in the end, an idealist. He has a clear vision of what he wants to be, where he wants to go with all this. And then he measures his life. If he walks there, if he stops, if he walks in the opposite direction, this is quantifiable, you can know, you can perceive. So the construction of ourselves is a real goal. And maybe it's a real standard of quality of life. Alternative to that other one
that society gives. It is said that in so many terms, quantitatively, we get to have qualitatively. But in practice we don't see this happening. This transmutation, we don't see it happening. Here we have quality from the first to the last step. According to these standards. That do not exclude having, but do not have having as a goal. Each thing is embellished and realized by being what it is. That is, quality of life has a lot to do with identity. Plants are perfectly made by doing what they correspond to in the natural scheme. Animals, birds, animals,
nature as a whole. The human being has, because he is a rational and free being, the option of finding or not his nature. This is what is traditionally called choice, free will. By meeting it voluntarily by a willful act, he realizes himself. Because this is basic. Each being realizes himself in what it is. Know yourself. Each being realizes himself in finding deeply his identity. Therefore, a path of realization of happiness for man is human nature. It is humanization. Understand what human nature is. Imagine what a real human being is. In the fullness of the human
condition, what would that be? Imagine it, it is a wonderful exercise of imagination. How would an ideal human being be? What virtues? What behavior? How would he face that gag that always takes me seriously? How would he face that chaotic relationship with my boss at work? What is the standard of the human being with which I dream? What is a real human being? What does he seek to develop in life? This is human identity that we have to visualize. Outside the fashion standards, we have to be able to visualize it. Able to visualize it. And
once we find human identity and walk towards it, we qualify life. Because plants qualify themselves seeking to be plants and not animals. Each being qualifies itself seeking to be what he was conceived for, finding his place. The realization of life is the function of giving meaning. Each thing, when it finds its place in time and space, in the universe, is a piece that found its role within the gear. It adds to the whole and at the same time it is realized. It is important to realize this. This is a phrase from the book that referred
to me at the beginning of the lecture. A book called In Search of Wisdom, in which this lecture was based, by a thinker named Sri Ram. He says this and I think it's very beautiful. When there is a state of mind and heart that is independent of anything that is external to its realization, it finds within us the security, the joy and the peace that is sought outside. When we find within us human identity, the circumstances will play their role and I will know how to answer them as a human being. Whatever circumstances bring me,
I will respond as a man. Therefore, I will have a life of a man. I will have feelings of a man. Whatever life makes me, it will not make me behave like an animal. It will not lower me. Recently I was giving a lecture that was the beauty, according to a thinker named Roger Scruton. It was very interesting. There is a very interesting work. He quotes a passage by Kant. Kant talks about it. When we look at the most sublime things of nature, the ocean, the Alps, we can first intimidate ourselves and think how small
we are. But then there is a reaction within us. We realize that in the same way they have their dignity that resides in being what they are, we have our dignity that resides in being what we are. And when we are deeply human, we have something that no one can take from us. That ocean, the Alps, can kill me, but cannot corrupt me. And then the man finds his greatness. He can take away from me what I am. He can physically destroy me, but cannot corrupt me. And in this the man is as great as
an ocean or an Alps carcass. When he finds what corresponds to him in the nature scheme, his identity. And it is limited what the circumstances can do for him. Circumstances cannot dictate what he is. They can even destroy him physically. But dictate what he is or is not, they cannot reach that. Therefore, they have limited power and no longer depend on circumstances. And it is interesting because in a historical moment where it is so rare for human beings to find this role, a man who individualizes himself is the only variable. I don't know if you
know the scientific principle that people call Ceteris Paribus. What does that mean? When I have a variable that I want to examine her behavior, I put all the stable circumstances to observe only that variation. You realize that a man who is awake, who really seeks the human condition, in a world where people are so guided by instincts, passions, and this is so predictable, he is a variable in the middle of several constants. Therefore, he can perfectly know what the middle will bring him. This is predictable. But what he will answer to the middle, this is
absolutely impossible to predict. He is a being that is under construction, therefore, at every moment he will be a little better. So it's not a matter of the circumstances anymore, circumstances are constant, it's your question. If it worked out, it's you, if it went wrong, it's you. It's your responsibility, it's the theory of the responsibility of historical thinkers. Nothing happens to a man that is not proper to a man when he is really a man. Otherwise, what happens to a man is proper to anything, whatever circumstances want. So imagine another phrase from a more modern
thinker called Jean-Paul Sartre. Hell is the other. He said, in fact, that the common judgment, at his time and that still exists today, hell is the other. The others are always guilty of what happens to us. What I propose to you is to reverse this. Hell is the self. This little self, that does not give itself the job of knowing itself and is dragged by circumstances. And if we know ourselves, if we have a challenge to develop a quality of human life, we can reverse this game and maybe say paradise can be the same as
the self. And as a consequence, also the others. And life as a whole. Simply, when I assume my role as a human being, which is a very different quality of life from that offered by the collective. Therefore, it requires courage, it requires individuality, it requires the know-you-yourself, which is exactly the proposal we go to in philosophy. Man, know yourself. Find yourself as a man. And then realize a standard of quality of life and build yourself. Do what corresponds to you in the scheme of the universe. Sacralize life. And then you have another possibility, which is
not the one of fashion, is not the collective, but it is the one for which we were conceived. It is what is expected of us as human beings.
