![]() ![]() The latter was an ex-con, gambler, orthodox Christian and novelist who wrote enormous, intricate novels always attempting to prove that there was a dark shadow to human ideas and motivations. The former was a Count, landowner, anarchist Christian, and novelist who wrote enormous, intricate novels always attempting to prove what was true and correct about human life. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky were two of the greatest authors of all time. True life is not lived where great external changes take place – where people move about, clash, fight, and slay one another – it is lived only where these tiny, tiny, infinitesimally small changes occur.” – Tolstoy – Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves One may say that true life begins where the tiny bit begins – where what seem to us minute and infinitely small alterations take place. ![]() That saying is strikingly true not only of art but of all life. The pupil, having glanced at the altered drawing, exclaimed: “Why, you only touched it a tiny bit, but it is quite another thing.” Bryullóv replied: “Art begins where the tiny bit begins.” “Bryullóv (a painter) one day corrected a pupil’s study. A SHORT CLASS ON CLASSIC LITERATURE THAT’S EXACTLY AS BORING AS IT SOUNDS Which, I promise, isn’t nearly as boring as it sounds. Whether we’re looking to get better at being single, kick our anxiety’s ass, or just change our life so we’ll be a little happier – it turns out the answer isn’t where we’ve been told to look, but is just where it’s always been.īut in order to explain this, I’m going to need to run a short class on classic literature. The problems with this are that whilst these events seem important from a desire to string together a narrative, they aren’t actually as meaningful or important as we would think. A journey which we, as the sole most important person, go on and achieve great, important things. ![]() Relationships become about passion and excitement, life goals become about success and overcoming extreme challenges, and the meaning of life becomes some kind of heroes journey. Life becomes about these events, and it becomes about the quality and intensity of these events. Moments in life series#When we look at life as series of important events, we’re measuring life by very specific, limited measuring points. Yet to the two greatest authors that ever lived this was precisely the wrong way to look at living.Īnd it turns out they were right. But even more than that, it’s central to the way we all habitually think about the lives of ourselves and others. The idea that important events define the meaning, direction, and quality of life is central to the accepted idea of personal development. We like to look at events that hold meaning for us – the end of a relationship, the loss of someone we love – as events that form who we are, and likewise, we look to the future for events – achieving our dreams, finding true love – that will similarly define our lives, and in turn, make them worth living. (For those of you who haven’t done my Dating Course – the answer is ‘no.’) ![]() Events like the near-death of my father, witnessing a terrible crime, and seriously endangering my life are all things I look at and think “yes, this was the turning point in my life, and after this everything was different.” Like anyone, I’ve always sought a narrative to base my sense of self around. We often think the most important moments in life are the big events, but what if it was actually the small, boring, almost imperceptible moments that mattered the most? WHAT IF the entire way we thought about life was wrong? ![]()
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