Sean D. Francis

At the sixth maxim, I believe we hit upon one of Gracian’s great themes.  We are not perfect.  We have not reached the acme of our selves.

A Man at his Highest Point.  We are not born perfect: every day we develop in our personality and in our calling till we reach the highest point of our completed being, to the full round of our accomplishments, of our excellences. This is known by the purity of our taste, the clearness of our thought, the maturity of our judgment, and the firmness of our will. Some never arrive at being complete; somewhat is always awanting: others ripen late. The complete man, wise in speech, prudent in act, is admitted to the familiar intimacy of discreet persons, is even sought for by them.

The person we are today is not the full potential of who we can be.  Each day is a chance to climb a bit higher, improve ourselves a bit more.  We all start life at different points on this climb towards perfection, accept the advantages work against the disadvantages and seek the highest point you can reach.  Gracian’s definition of when the acme has been reached feels a bit Scientologist… it is about clarity.

I am not sure what ‘purity of taste’ could possibly mean.  It feels subjective.  I had to reference the Christopher Mauer translation to get “elevated taste”.  I think this means rising above the lowest common denominator.  Being able to apply critical thought to the things we experience and being able to classify these things.  It means having knowledge of the things we experience.  I don’t want to oversimplify but I can’t help but think in terms of wine.  After studying and sampling various types of wine, selecting a good wine from a bad wine and knowing why it is good becomes natural.

The other elements are a bit more self-explanatory.  Clearness of thought. Maturity of judgment. Firmness of will.

Now the other question that comes to mind on this maxim is whether one ‘rises in level’ through some other means or through practicing these elements.  Developing purity of taste, developing clarity of thought, maturing judgment, and firming of one’s will.  I do believe that these are the ways to reach perfection.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Maxim 1 – Maxim 2 – Maxim 3 – Maxim 4 – Maxim 5

Baltasar Gracian should not be confused with a man who is all about love and kindness. In the 5th Maxim we begin to see the stirrings of a more cold and manipulative view of how to live life. It can be said that the purpose of this book is to help a person be a better being, live life more fully, and advance socially. The following maxim falls into that last category.

Create a Feeling of Dependence. Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity. The wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic, to trust to their gratitude boorish; hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. More is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well, and the orange once sucked falls from the golden platter into the waste-basket. When dependence disappears, good behaviour goes with it as well as respect. Let it be one of the chief lessons of experience to keep hope alive without entirely satisfying it, by preserving it to make oneself always needed even by a patron on the throne. But let not silence be carried to excess lest you go wrong, nor let another’s failing grow incurable for the sake of your own advantage.

There is a common saying which tells us that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.  Baltasar was more of a fan of giving out the fish than teaching the skill to others.  There are caveats though.  Gracian warns in the final sentence, “But let not silence be carried to excess lest you go wrong, nor let another’s failing grow incurable for the sake of your own advantage.”   Yes, if you want people to depend upon you, to gain their adoration through that dependence, then you must make sure you are able to provide for them consistently.   Using the saying as the example, if you won’t teach the man to fish and expect him to come to you for the fish, then you better have fish for him.  If you don’t, his adoration will turn to whomever does.  Or he will take it upon himself to teach himself to fish.

Breaking this down into the realities of modern life, I translate this into a work setting.  To me this is about being the ‘Go To Person’, the individual people want involved in projects and meetings because you have the ideas, the knowledge, the skills desired.  Part of the way to become valued in this way is to make yourself a scarce resource.  Do not volunteer for every project that comes down the pike, make them seek you out.  Of course, you first have to prove yourself enough to gain that value and you can’t make yourself so scarce as to be unattainable.  Regarding Gracian’s warning though, it is part of your duty to keep the organization healthy.  Step up when you see things going awry and lend a hand.  If the boat is sinking, that is not the time to wait to be asked to help bail.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Maxim 1 – Maxim 2 – Maxim 3 – Maxim 4

iv Knowledge and Courage are the elements of Greatness. They give immortality, because they are immortal. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A man without knowledge, a world without light. Wisdom and strength, eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile.

Greatness is a bizarre trait.  Is it fame?  Is it fortune?  Is it a quiet trait that does not announce itself?  How many people of greatness are buried in untended graves?  The time Gracian was writing, I don’t think Greatness was a nuanced trait.  Greatness was about a certain level of renown.

Gracian broke Greatness down into two categories: knowledge and courage.  In the Christopher Maurer translation of The Art of Worldly Wisdom, this passage gets a slightly different interpretation, saying knowledge and courage take turns at greatness.  I prefer this concept better.  Instead of thinking of greatness as the end of a formula where you add knowledge and courage together to attain it, greatness is a process.  First comes some knowledge, then courage, then knowledge.  One step after another.  Greatness isn’t a goal.  It is a means, a process to achieve goals.

A person can have all the knowledge of the great libraries of the world, but without courage to act on the knowledge, the individual will be a great repository of information but little else.  A wise person can do anything so long as their is courage to act.  Courage on its own is aimless and will result in heroics but not greatness.  Knowing when, where, and how to take action is the process of greatness.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Maxim 1 – Maxim 2 – Maxim 3

Baltasar was quite clear with the third maxim.

iii Keep Matters for a Time in Suspense.

Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements, It is both useless and insipid to play with the cards on the table. If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the object of general attention. Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit, just as you do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom. A resolution declared is never highly thought of; it only leaves room for criticism. And if it happens to fail, you are doubly unfortunate. Besides you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch.

It is easy to make assumptions about this maxim or attempt to extend the meaning beyond the intention.  I do not think Baltasar was encouraging people to not communicate.  This maxim is about careful communication.  Don’t lay all your cards on the table at once.  There is no reason to rush forth to give an opinion or consultation.  If one were to announce one’s plans completely, all that will happen is people will pick it apart and the plan won’t get a chance to be enacted.  Reveal only enough to get the next step completed.   The additional benefit is failure isn’t advertised.

I’m reminded of advice given to brides on their wedding: no one knows how it was supposed to go, so what happens at the wedding is what people think is supposed to happen.  So if the flowers aren’t exactly what was wanted, no one will know.  That is  they won’t know unless the plan was detailed to everyone beforehand.

I know I fail at this maxim a lot.  I’m very quick with my opinion.  I am far too transparent.  I have a long way to go before I can say I’ve successfully implemented this one.

I am curious if people might find this maxim offensive in some way.  Based upon other reading,  I don’t think Baltasar was encouraging people to play games with information, just to be careful about broadcasting one’s intentions.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Maxim 1 – Maxim 2

The second maxim in Baltasar Gracian’s book, The Art of Worldly Wisdom is a frustratingly short one.

ii Character and Intellect:

the two poles of our capacity; one without the other is but halfway to happiness. Intellect sufficeth not, character is also needed. On the other hand, it is the fool’s misfortune, to fail in obtaining the position, the employment, the neighbourhood, and the circle of friends that suit him.

I find this one particularly frustrating because I have a difficult time with the metaphor it is using.  I know I am overcomplicating it because the most likely meaning is a description of a globe with two poles.  Yet I sort of want to think that it is a complicated device rotating on two separate axis.  Character and Intellect do rotate separately.  You can have one without the other.  That is what Gracian is saying with this maxim.  A person of great character would be admired by many but limited in the capacity of what can be done.  A person of intellect would have the capacity to accompish a lot but would lack the connections necessary to reach that capacity.

The other reason why I like to think of the metaphor as a more complicated device because I like the image of a person in a machine that has two separate vectors of rotation and trying to balance the movement.  In my mind, balancing these two traits is a difficult task.

Honestly, I know that I worship at the altar of intellect a bit too much, neglecting the growth of character.  I have the left to right rotation down, now I have to get the forward to back rotation.  Just like trying to pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.  Tricky, but doable.