Old Age and Wisdom Part II

In my last blog Old Age and Wisdom I said I would read and review The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy.  It ls the story of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia and his sufferings and death from a terminal illness.  I thought it was the perfect book for someone who just turned 80 to read.  (It is mercifully short at 15,000 words or 1/20^th the length of War and Peace.)

On the other hand the book is particularly thought provoking and leaves a lasting impression.   It is a pitiless stare into the abyss, not just of death, but of what it means to be human.  The concept of the “abyss” or “void” represents the meaninglessness and emptiness of a life lived solely for worldly success and social status, ultimately leading to a profound existential crisis and the realization of mortality.  Tolstoy uses this metaphor several times in the novel.

Ilyich’s death is announced at the beginning, and we  see exactly what effect it has on his colleagues. “‘I’ll probably get Shtabel’s or Vinnikov’s job now,’ thought Fyodor Vasilyevich.” And: “‘I’ll have to request a transfer from Kaluga for my brother-in-law now,’ thought Pyotr Ivanovich. ‘The wife will be delighted. And now she won’t be able to say I’ve never done anything for my relatives.  I was reminded of the great quote, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s relatives.’

Ivan Ilyich spends his last three days of his life screaming continually.  Then Tolstoy takes us into the nightmare, from its very beginning. It is an examination of a life not well lived, and the consequences of it.  Ilyich realises how people often live in a way that ignores their own mortality, focusing instead on social status and material success.  You start contemplating your own life, have you lived authentically, or simply following societal expectations.  It is a powerful exploration of the human condition, and a reminder to live a life of meaning and purpose.

Here is a brilliant example of Tolstoy’s writing that appealed to me:

In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he not accustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it.

The syllogism he had learned from Kiesewetter’s Logic: “Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal,” had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself. That Caius — man in the abstract — was mortal, was perfectly correct, but he was not Caius, not an abstract man, but a creature quite, quite separate from all others.  He had been little Vanya, with a mama and a papa, with Mitya and Volodya, with the toys, a coachman and a nurse…

Amazingly, there is a connection to the TV series Shogun that we were watching just before I read the book.  Episode 8 of the series is titled The Abyss of Life and now I have read the book I understand why.

Since my last blog I also have searching for a philosophy for the over 80s.  I think I have found the one for me.  It is summed up in the phrase ‘Sapere Aude!’ or ‘Dare to know’.  It was first coined by Kant who maintained it was the basis of the Enlightenment.   For Kant the key motto is that people needed to ‘Have courage to use your own understanding’.  To that I would add that your own understanding should be built on the twin pillars of scepticism and empiricism.  Scepticism is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims (particularly those made by ‘elite experts’) ‘that are seen as mere belief or dogma.  Empiricism is the idea that all learning comes from only experiment  and observation.

Finally I now two new answers to the question “How are you?”  The first is ‘Spavined.’; the second is ‘Not at the pyramidion.’ Look it up.

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