a vase filled with perfumes (proust & the king of bhutan)

  'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes--Proust

How Proust Can Change Your Life. Proust's brother was a successful businessman. He was also a respected family man, an athlete and a leader in his community. In a nutshell, he was everything Proust was not. For Proust could hardly get out of bed. Unable to hold down a job, he had chronic poor health and most probably never had a successful love affair in his entire life. De Botton, however, in his book is very persuasive when he tells us not to be too quick to think it was Proust's handsome and wealthy brother who had the better lot. For de Botton suggests that despite all his brother's worldly, social and romantic successes, Proust had something far more closely linked to human happiness: Proust really looked at things.

In an unforgettable scene in the book, De Botton describes the way Proust could be utterly captivated by the vision of pollen scattering in the wind, as seen from an open window. Or how returning from a journey to Marseille, he was unable to climb the stairs to his room-- so afflicted was he by altitude sickness --from what could only have been about a 400 feet difference in elevation! And De Botton asks, what is better? To go through life a huge success in practical issues but be totally unable to notice the beauty of pollen scattering outside your window or to rarely get out of bed but feel every inch in elevation when you do?

Make no mistake about it. De Botton believes we have much to learn from Proust in how to live our lives (as lives lived). For Proust knew how to stop and smell the roses. Proust's brother, Robert, on the other hand, was the kind of guy who could be run over by a ton of coal and hardly even notice, and de Botton suggests that "Robert could have traveled from Everest to Jericho and taken little note of an altitude change." De Botton's argument I suppose is based on the hypothesis that being able to be moved by things is somehow connected to human happiness. Those times when we stop and are moved by something are certainly the things we remember, at least.

**

Have you heard of the King of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness project? It started as an offhand comment but was based on the idea that government can --and should-- do something that will serve to back up values that contribute to human happiness. And that this should be the ultimate indication of governmental achievement. Grounded in Buddhism, the King's gross national happiness initiatve seeks to cultivate values thought to contribute to happiness or spiritual/psychological well being, cultural preservation and ecological sustainability as an indicator of a country's success.

A recent TED talk saw statistician Nic Marks taking up this idea to put together his own Happy Nation Index. No one will be surprised, given the high priority environmental impact is given, to see that the US has the lowest happiness rating of all developed countries by far. And interestingly, Costa Rica comes out to be the happiest place on earth.

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index

No matter what you think of the ratings, there is something interesting that Marks has to say. He believes that there are 5 things that statistically are shown to increase a person's happiness. Here they are as quoted in My Heart's in Accra:

What are the five things you should do every day to be happier? Marks and his colleagues did a study for the UK government to try to determine this. The first “secret to happiness” is connection to other people. Second, be active – go for a walk or turn on the radio and dance. Third, take notice of what’s around you – the seasons changing, the world around you. Fourth, keep learning – lifetime learning has a strong link to health in the elderly. This doesn’t need to be formal learning – it can be cooking a new dish or playing an instrument. Finally, give – we feel good when we give. Give two groups $100 – the people who spend money on others, rather than on themselves, feel much better at the end of the day.

It's all basic stuff, but it bears repeating since I truly believe that these five things are just about the best practical advice a person could take to becoming happier.

And notice number three.

Many of you will remember our conversations here concerning Confucian Virture as "Really Looking." 徳→　"straight" （直）＋　heart/mind"（心）　＋　"go"（行）
Perhaps you will recall that I tried to argue that, virtue--rather than being some kind of internal inward-looking (where outer actions are aimed to be harmonious with internalized moral convictions) that in fact, virtue should always be based firmly on-- indeed, it demands-- a kind of "other-focused" aesthetic seeing. And, that the biggest danger we have in our ethical lives is a lack of vision.

Heidegger too warns us against this kind of banality (or habitus)- at the same time as a friend emails to remind me that it is the lack of vision that is our undoing (ie "dasein only understands itself in the LIGHT of possibility").

Engaged, embodied seeing...Interestingly, it is something shared by both Heidegger's existentialist concept of "care" (maybe gotten from Kierkegaard's "truth which cannot be objectified but only experienced in relationshp") and Confucian ethics (authentic being found in our everyday relationships).

Re-reading Dante's Divine Comedy, it is astounding the number of references to seeing that occur: 

Splendour of God, whereby these eyes beheld Thy true realm's triumph, grant me power to say How that exalted ... "And as these eyelids drank unto the brim" ...

"I gaze," "my eyes beheld," "these eyes drink," "my eyes," "eyelids drink," "my vision fails," "my visions" "to behold"-- the references could go on and on, for Dante, to see is to hear and to see is to drink; to be nourished and to know. Reading Dante, I feel that his epistemology is not unlike that of Master Wang, whereby knowing is looking:

This is a rejection of knowledge ex nihilo with a strong emphasis on inter-relational and intersubjective knowing. Knowing as doing. Doing as being. Yes, the view out our window as we are in the act of looking

In a world where eyes drink and hearts breath, Proust did indeed have some important things to say about living life, I think. For he was right to see the challenge as being bound up in Time. And Proust concluded that, an hour is not merely an hour but rather is "a vase filled with perfumes, sounds, places and climates! . . . So we hold within us a treasure of impressions, clustered in small knots, each with a flavor of its own, formed from our own experiences, that become certain moments of our past." 

BBC's Start of the Week did an unforgettable show last spring with David Eagleman on his book Sum: 40 Tales of Afterlives, and of the many wondrous scenerios of possible afterlives, one in particualr caught my attention. It was of an afterlife whereby a person was made to dwell for eternity in their favorite memory. This is so very Proustian, don't you think? What are the memories that illuminate a person? How we occupy actual time is what gives meaning to our lives via our memories and so this idea of having a heart's occupation comes to hold center stage in this world where time, meaning and vision come together. (Proust was vehemently opposted to idleness, Philistinism and amusement, or anything leading to numbness or the killing time).

Right now,I am reading Pamuk's Museum of Innocence. And, the book starts out describing the happiest moment in the narrator's life-- the moment he and his beloved first made love in the Merhamet Apartment. It was-- the narrator says-- the most perfect and joyeous moment of his life. David Eagleman, however, on BBC suggested that most people would not choose a love affair as their one eternal moment for most people would prefer to dwell in something less intense and more pleasantly banal--like sitting on a bench with their best friend in a garden.

I wonder....

I know, for myself, if I had to choose a moment to dwell in for the rest of my life, it would be a very vividly happy and unforgettable memory of mine of being on a boat going from Lantau to Hong Kong with my son. He was just one years old and everything delighted him--nothing more than that boat trip. And each time we did it, at that precise moment the boat would swing into Victoria Harbour and all of Hong Kong island would unfold before his eyes, Adonis would clasp his hands and point and say "pretty!" And it was, indeed, all very pretty.

To me, this will perhaps always be my perfect moment. The moment that I would gladly spend an eternity living over and over again. The view out the window.

  

 

Comments

[Sterling Price]

What a warm, wonderful post. Reading it, which was lots of fun, I also remembered Rodin's advice to Rilke, when he was having trouble writing. He suggested to go outside, find something and look at it. Rilke ended up going to the zoo and chose a panther to watch. What he saw eventually became one of his better-known poems, "The Panther."

[John Emerson]

Rilke had the most peculiar life, As I understand, he lived mostly in the castles of declining aristocrats or the mansions of high bourgeois heiresses and spent most of his time in museums. I'm sure I understand wrongly, but he did a lot of those three things.

"World Journal of Urology" on proust's Father and Brother

[peony]

Thanks John--always wonderful to hear from you! De Botton's book had so much information on Proust's father and brother and well, it really was a nice read. Have you read any of his other books? I have a friend who has read most of de Botton's books and says, "whenever I finish reading, I am never sure what points he really made--in retrospect it doesn't ever seem like he is saying anything valid".... What little I have read of De Botton has really stuck with me for whatever reason. Would like to re-read his art o travel or maybe read his book on work.

Just ordered this book used on amazon
Carthage Must be Destroyed
Very excited to get my hands on it.... not too long now and it should be arriving. Just finishing Pamuk's Museum of Innocence. How about you? Reading anything good?

[peony]

Sterling, that was such a nice comment... I had never heard of that anecdote about Rodin and Rilke and so enjoyed learning about it! What do you think of an afterlife like that-- living in just one memory for an eternity? Do you have one?

[sterling price]

I'm not sure that would be my afterlife of choice. Wouldn't it preclude something new happening? Living in a memory we are living in the past. So I'm not sure how good that would be. Maybe it would be idyllic. I have a loose belief in reincarnation but how it works remains a happy mystery to me. I'll be content to wait and find out.

[peony]

Have been thinking about your comment, Sterling. You are right, it would preclude something new happening... this being a characteristic of Paradise or Heaven. A kind of eternal idllyic garden where there is a lack of anxiety (anxiety and pain being a by-product of agency and a future). There is a very good show that the Philosopher Zone did on the Happiness Machine about how most people-- even if offered the promise of perfect happiness would not choose it is if meant not having this kind of embodied agency and room for growth as you describe.... Robert Harrison's book, Garden: an Essay on the Human Condition also discusses this... I really recommend that book to you, by the way.

Oh, and I think the idea of an afterlife as living in a memory is less about enlightenment as it is about (Judeo-Christian inspired) Judgement so that your "Just reward" is based on the best memory you had...for which you shall dwell in for eternity. When one thinks of characters like those in the Brothers Karamazov, for example, this is interesting since it stresses the importance of a life lived.

[facebook conversation]

Facebook conversation:
Sum sounds fascinating. But where do you find the time to read so much? Are you a speed reader? Never did get around to reading Proust. Closest I got was to visit a seaside town in the north of France where he lived and wrote someth...ing or other. I was with writer Masanori Hata, a big Proust fan who was in seventh heaven as a result, gushing "Wow, so this is where he wrote...!" I think Bhutan's GNH concept is a great idea. BTW, two of my kids have been there, and they say the Dragon Kings (both the present youngster and his father) are much revered by all. Just listened to Nick Marks. Thanks for all this enrichment!

Hi J. Unfortunately, I don't read nearly as many books as I used to.... Proust was a long time ago and while Sum does sound fascinating, the Start of the Week show with ian buruma was good enough... what I am reading now (finally!) is the big novel in my profile photo. It is wonderful and I highly recommend it to you...It's a funny thing how Proust has stuck with me over the years-- and the older I get the more I come back to him and realize that for a guy who rarely got out of bed, he got so much right! Oh and De Botton--I have become a fan. Have you read his Art of Travel?