Baltasar Gracian's Art of Worldly Wisdom

[LaMar]

When I was a kid I used to wonder how the west survived with the east possessed of things like Sun Tzu’s Art of War. I quit wondering when I was a sophomore in college, and stumbled upon The Art of Worldly Wisdom

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n_y_Morales

Gracian was a Jesuit priest. Any of you Catholics read this work? Is it required reading at the average Catholic school? Does it influence a modern reading of the faith?

Any of you non-Catholics read it? What did you think?

 

[Abigail]

I have this little book!

I think there has always been a tension in the spiritual life between the “ideal christian life” and dealing with the secular world as it is. An example of the “ideal” way of looking at things would probably be The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a’ Kempis. Many people for hundreds of years have gained inspiration from his words, but he was a monastic and his writings were for monks.

Secular people do not have the luxury of the guaranteed support of a monastic community, and so must approach certain problems differently. For example, in a monastic setting, one is encouraged to suffer insults to ones reputation in silence, without defending oneself. In the secular world, such a response could lead to one not being able to provide for oneself or ones family, as a good reputation, and defending that reputation, is essential to success at court or in business.

Gracian’s work could be considered cynical, but it was designed to advise men who had to survive the intrigues of politics and court life in a dangerous age. I think it’s a great little book (but I have been accused of being a cynic…)

 

[bpbasilphx]

**Many people for hundreds of years have gained inspiration from his words, but he was a monastic and his writings were for monks.
**

But Thomas a Kempis was NOT a monastic. The Brethren of he Common Life lived in community without vows. They gloried in NOT being monks or members of a regular order.

 

[LaMar]

Gracian’s work could be considered cynical, but it was designed to advise men who had to survive the intrigues of politics and court life in a dangerous age. I think it’s a great little book (but I have been accused of being a cynic…)

We live in a cynical world, don’t we?

I’m glad someone else likes this little fruit of the Jesuits. I was very happy to see it come out a few years ago in hardback and paper, and am sadly not surprised that the masses remain largely ignorant of it and its messages.

Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture. Culture therefore makes the man; the more a man, the higher. Thanks to it, Greece could call the rest of the world barbarians. Ignorance is very raw; nothing contributes so much to culture as knowledge. But even knowledge is coarse If without elegance. Not alone must our intelligence be elegant, but our desires, and above all our conversation. Some men are naturally elegant in internal and external qualities, in their thoughts, in their address, in their dress, which is the rind of the soul, and in their talents, which is its fruit. There are others, on the other hand, so gauche that everything about them, even their very excellences, is tarnished by an intolerable and barbaric want of neatness.

 

[Abigail]

But Thomas a Kempis was NOT a monastic. The Brethren of he Common Life lived in community without vows. They gloried in NOT being monks or members of a regular order.

Thank you for adding to my knowledge! I didn’t realize Thomas wasn’t a traditional monk. Why was it that his community preferred to live without vows – aren’t vows the source of the grace for living community life?