The essay by the philosopher and literary critic Rafael Narbona, Masters of Happiness. From Socrates to Viktor Frankl, it offers the reader the possibility of discovering himself by realizing that “nothing is comparable to the amazement of living.” Narbona offers us a journey through the history of philosophy, not to achieve greater levels of erudition, but to share and expand the knowledge that it offers us and to notice its great healing and liberating power.
What motivates Narbona to write this plea in favor of life is the deep depression that the author suffered for years. He managed to overcome his depression because, having to take care of his mother and sister, both sick, he had to cling to the strength of tenderness, the need to return to the beauty of contemplating everyday life, and being open to reading and rereading philosophy to combat discouragement, darkness and sadness. With honesty, he shows the reader the ways to leave behind affliction, pessimism, boredom, hopelessness, restlessness, or black passions; all of them, manifestations of an absence of desire to live, to advance in life. The originality of his proposal is to have traced a history of ideas from ancient Greece to the present day to tell a small story of personal improvement, where we can all see ourselves reflected.
In this small personal story, Narbona weaves four moods/axes: the story of his depression, his relationship with his students, the interludes/chapters about his life and the teachings of philosophy. The strength of the essay, which transmits to the reader the joie de vivre, comes from his observations about life, from which the reader sees the author fall and rise.
The teachings through the lives of teachers of happiness, such as Socrates, Aristotle, Paul of Tarsus, Saint Augustine, Boethius, Pico della Mirandola, or Michel de Montaigne, are shown as exercises that have been transmitted to us to defeat pessimism. We find a luminous, clear and motivating energy in each teaching. The teachings of philosophers and poets should be understood as exercises to become aware of the value of appreciating life; From the hand of Homer we warn that “the value of existence was not measured by duration, but by excellence”, and his poems provide us with valuable weapons to avoid succumbing to the worst enemy of our species: pessimism.
Hesiod transmits to us the regenerative value of work and effort, which serve Narbonne to confirm that “truly, work is the path to happiness. And, in some cases, that of health.” Reading Zeno of Elea evokes a return to humility, a lesson that is drawn when warning that “being humble is the first requirement to know the truth or, at least, to approach it.” Socrates “taught us that the essential thing about the human being is his inner life, not power, beauty or material prosperity.” Paul of Tarsus bequeathed, in this observation that he makes in the Epistle to the Philippians: “do not act out of rivalry or ostentation, considering others superior to you. “Do not lock yourselves in your interests, but all seek the interest of others.”
All of them are teachings, lessons, that we can adopt as exercises that lead us to discover from antiquity, Christianity, Renaissance, modernity, enlightenment, romanticism, until the end of the 20th century, how to remove fear from our lives. , how to open ourselves to truth, consolation, tolerance, love, desire, sensuality, passion, optimism, knowledge, tenderness, patience, attention to others, curiosity and fraternity. Other thinkers, such as Margarete Buber-Neumann or women who died due to Nazi barbarism, such as Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum, who did not submit to desolation and death in the darkest days of their lives, transmit life lessons and reflections to us. . Narbonne offers us a lesson in life, in resistance, in shared intimacy, and traces a path back to paradise: “we all often ask ourselves what happiness is. Human beings have lived for centuries with the idea that they were expelled from paradise, without realizing that perhaps they never left it.” It is a luminous and perfect essay, in which the reader can not only acquire tools to know himself better but also to live more fully and courageously.
Rafael Narbona Masters of happiness. From Socrates to Viktor Frankl Roca Editorial. 540 pages. 21.90 euros
