The Art of letting yourself be
On the Art of letting be (stop doing), Baltasar Gracian tells us:
Aphorism 138 by Baltasar Gracián (1)
- «And more when the common sea, or the family, is more upset. There are whirlwinds in human dealings, tempests of will; then it is sanity to retire to the safe harbor of the ford. Many times the evils with the remedies worsen. D to do nature there, and here to morality. The wise doctor must know so much Prescribe as not to prescribe, and sometimes art consists more in not applying remedies. Let it be soothing vulgar whirlwinds to raise a hand and let it rest; to yield to time now will be to win later. A source with little restlessness gets muddled, nor will it calm down again by procuring it, but by leaving it. There is no better remedy for bewilderment than to let it run, which thus falls away from itself. "
The Art of letting yourself be . Surely, today, Gracián , would have titled the aphorism as: the art of not-doing . A choice of conduct in which there is no prima facie doing, trying, participating in a matter, if not, on the contrary, separating from the problem, refraining from entering it, not acting in certain situations, in letting go, trusting that this way the problem - rather, our perception of the problem, will change for the better.
On any occasion? It seems that this is what Gracian says when it refers to situations of life family (personal) and also to those of the sea common, > the social life, we understand (2), marine simile that continues using in other phrases of this aphorism.
These two areas appear again when it tells us: « Many times the evils with the remedies worsen. Let nature do it there (in social life), and here to morality (in personal life) »
Always? No, not always. « The wise doctor must know both to prescribe and not to prescribe, and sometimes art consists more in not applying remedies.»
not doing so is the alternative to doing ... but only in certain situations. In what? For those in which " whirlwinds appear in human treatment, tempests of will ", that is, when the situation in which our doing is required or Our not-doing is characterized by the extreme passion of the alternatives or of the parties found, the strong emotionality, the strong interests -legitimate or not- or the strong bias or bad intention with which we can find ourselves at some time (3). «Then it is sanity to retire to the safe harbor of the ford.» (4)
Running away from the problem? But it is not a question of fleeing from the problem but of retreating until those waves of passion, whirlwinds of concepts or tempests of altered feelings have lowered their intensity to tolerable limits. « Be a way to calm vulgar whirlpools by raising your hand and letting yourself be calmed; to give in to time will now be overcome later. »
Gracian recommends us the way of serenity, of tranquility, of non-action Immediately, letting it run, letting it be until the waters calm down and everything that was clouding them has disappeared. «A source with little restlessness gets muddled, nor will it calm down again by procuring it, but by leaving it. See for example: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/02584930900269417429079/index.htm
(2) A century later it would be coined in France the phrase: «Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même; « Stop doing, let go, the world goes alone », , as we continue to read in Wikipedia, refers "to a complete freedom in the economy: free market, free manufacturing, low or zero taxes, free labor market and minimum intervention of governments. It was used for the first time by Vincent de Gournay, Physiocrat of the 18th century, against government interventionism in the economy. "
(3) A century earlier, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits, Íñigo López de Loyola (Ignacio de Loyola) , had written in his Spiritual Exercises: «In times of desolation, never move»
(4) Darren is today a dark phrase that can be interpreted as facilitating the entrance to a safe harbor where to take shelter from the storm while it lasts.
Source of the cover image.