The great sages agreed on how we should live.
Christ spoke about living with love. He spoke about how we can feel God if we live properly. He told us not to get frustrated about life in this world - God cares for us as He cares for the sparrow. He declared that the weak and outcasts will eventually prevail. [New Testament]
Lao Tse said the same. Be yourself. Be decent but without making any special effort. Have tolerance. Follow the flow of the Universe. As the wind blows wherever and however he wants, so happiness will appear by itself whenever it wants. Be natural, let the wind take you where it wants. [Lao Tse , Tao Te Ching]
Socrates emphasized the value of knowing yourself. He did not speak with axioms, he just wanted to speak about the truth that lies within us. His greatest wisdom was that that he knew that he did not know anything. Simple and austere, he died for what he believed as Christ some years later also did. [Plato]
Jean Jacques Rousseau said it clearly: It is more important to live in virtue than studying it! [Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Science and the Arts] None of the above sages did leave any written monument (Tao left a single book at the urging of the guardian of the mountain pass where it was seen for the last time). And yet they defined the world. The Athenians may have had many philosophers, but the Spartans were the ones who lived virtuously. The importance of living a simple virtuous life instead of virtuous thinking is prevalent in each of these leading wise men. It may sound boring, but it's not at all: Live simply. Most people today, led by the dominant capitalistic Protestantism, want to "do " more and more things. But why should we "do something" at all times? [Harmonia Philosophica - see references to Feyerabend] The temporary material benefits of "doing something" cannot be compared with the happiness and completion offered by a life on the basis of "loving others and letting yourself to the care God". It is not about fatalism. It is about wisdom. Caring only for love, toleration and forgiveness is not so "easy" as many people think. To the contrary – dealing with a thousand things and trying to make money is the easy way! Those who do not want to stay by themselves even for one minute – are afraid of themselves. Those who want more money, do not have the strength or the courage to look for the really important things in life. Those who want to "do something" usually do nothing for others.
Great wise men preferred anachoritism [αναχωρητισμός] than staying to act (Socrates, Christ, Tao, Heidegger).
It takes courage to stand still for a while and listen to the One who cries out to you: "You're already here! You are already a part of me! Do not try to understand. Do not move constantly trying to forget yourself. Try to remember what you already know!" ...
As a modern quantum mechanics physicist, Lao said "Do not pollute the world with your observation and action!" Man is the border line between the perishable world of the phenomena and the eternal world of substance. And only if we can reduce our impact to zero will we make this separation disappear.
Don’t look at the skyscapers. Look at the sparrow. [Christ] Seek the empty so that you can be full. [Tao]
