Many times I want to express my feelings about life, but due to the embarrassment of my own life, I feel that many of my words are not particularly convincing. I always feel in my heart, "I have lived like this." , how to teach others how to live."

Schopenhauer is on the other extreme. He inherited a fortune at a young age, and he is also talented and rich in ideas. Speaking of which, according to the universal concept, he should be regarded as the kind of person who "lives without worries". However, he struggled in the shadow of "unsuccess" all his life, and he did not attract the attention of the world until he was 65 years old. Moreover, he has also received the title of "the founder of modern pessimism", which makes people feel a bit ridiculous.

Schopenhauer had no children in his life, and only had a dog as a companion. At the age of 25, he published "On the Fourfold Roots of the Principle of Sufficient Reason", and at the age of 30 he completed the major masterpiece of his philosophical career, "The World as Intention and Representation". However, the 500 copies of the first edition could only gather dust in the warehouse. At the age of 53, he published "Two Fundamental Questions in Ethics". At the age of 62, he completed "Appendices and Supplements" and printed 750 copies, but did not receive any royalties. At the age of 65, he finally became famous when he wrote "Appendices and Supplements", of which the book "The Wisdom of Life" is a part.

The impermanence of life is vividly reflected in Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer also had many different views on "success" and "material" that are different from the world. After reading "The Wisdom of Life", I suddenly felt ridiculous when faced with the dazzling array of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" in bookstores today.

Schopenhauer's life was lonely, and he neither refused nor opposed this loneliness. Because of his material abundance, he also despises money and wealth. This makes some of his ideas seem to many people to be a bit like a wealthy person's "standing and talking without pain in the back".

"Wealth is like sea water: the more you drink, the more thirsty you become."

"Money is something external to the body." Everyone has heard this sentence, but few people To understand, or to say there is no condition to understand, this has also led to most people in this society habitually neglecting themselves, and investing more in "external things" such as wealth, fame, emotions, social relationships, etc. energy.

Money is very important, but it is not worth spending everything for. Schopenhauer explained the essence of hedonism in one sentence:

“The wrong way to obtain happiness is to pursue it. The reason for living a life of debauchery is that we try to turn a miserable life into continuous pleasure, joy and enjoyment. In this way, disillusionment will follow; and this kind of life will inevitably be accompanied by mutual lies between people. and coaxing."

This reminds me of the time before reading this book, when I always tried to pursue a luxurious life, and what was left after the short-term happiness was just a pile of credit card bills and There is no change in the state of life, followed by seeing life as extremely complicated and difficult.

The essence of life is not to pursue "happiness". In fact, there is not much happiness to speak of in life. On the contrary, "pain" and "boring" are the real background of life. If you can "No pain" is actually the greatest happiness. Ordinary people often pursue too much excitement and physical happiness, just like the tide of the sea. When the tide is high, it is extremely high, but when the tide fades, it is often extremely empty.

People’s excessive pursuit of happiness is just like Tokugawa Ieyasu’s classic saying: “It is better to be less than too much.” In other words, people cannot change the environment and the world. Changing themselves is the most fundamental way to obtain happiness.

"Except for a few people who can think out the true meaning from sensuality and chess and card games, these are the means by which ordinary people hope to get rid of boredom. And what is obtained through these means is not true happiness. Ordinary people will feel extremely bored once they lose all this. ”

Only by being rooted in oneself, improving one’s knowledge, vision and thoughts, enriching one’s spirit, and abandoning pure sensory stimulation can one achieve success. It can fundamentally change the "emptiness" in the heart and achieve the so-called "happiness". This is the true wisdom of life.