The Importance of Living (1)

The Importance of Living
Thoughts from Madison Nef
I read the first chapter of the book “The Importance of Living” by Lin Yutang. The chapter was broken up into three parts, each of which I would like to address separately: Approach to Life, A Pseudo-Scientific Formula, and The Scamp as an Ideal.
Starting off with approach to life, Yutang got right into the book by saying he would be writing from the Chinese outlook of life, as that is what he knew. He put a disclaimer saying that he had never taken a class in philosophy nor had he ever read any books by the great philosophers, stating that “if one is too well-read, then one does not know right is right and wrong is wrong.” He credits his sources as those around him- saying that not knowing philosophy, but knowing life, makes the book that much easier to write.
When you break life down- everyone has their own philosophy. Without a philosophy, no one would be able to function. As my dad puts it, that’s the great thing about philosophy: everyone has one, whether they know it or not. The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines philosophy as “the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc.” but I couldn’t disagree more. To me, philosophy is a way of life- how you live life and the decisions you make that influence your life. Philosophy isn’t just a “study”, it’s a key principle.
Yutang describes his culture as a detached one, saying that many Chinese people have a sense of high-mindedness needed to avoid the temptations of fame and money and let themselves go. By doing so, Yutang felt that these people would reach the full sense of freedom, pride, and nonchalance. It was his belief that only with this sense of pride that one could truly arrive at the full joy of living.
In “a pseudo-scientific formula”, Yutang explains that mankind is divided into idealists and realists. He states that the two tug at each other in every aspect of life, to keep a balance on things as too much idealism would be too ridiculed- as the ideas are always changing, getting picked over, criticized and brought back around in a vicious cycle. Yutang also noted that while man was given these two “isms”, he was also given humor (which Yutang believed was to be used to stretch and criticize the dreams of men). “It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.”
Yutang went as far as to make formulas “by which the mechanism of human progress and historical change” could be expressed. They were as follows:

Reality – Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = Idealism Reality + Humor = Realism/Conservatism
Dreams – Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
It was Yutang’s belief that wisdom was the highest form of thinking. The way to achieve wisdom, from his perspective, was to be able to tone down one’s dreams and idealistic thoughts with a good sense of humor- while backing one’s humor with reality. As quoted above, one should be able to dream, but also know how to laugh at his dream. In my eyes, what Yutang is saying is have an imagination, but know when to stop and not to let your thoughts control you. There can be dreams, but there must also be reality and logic and you need to know the difference.
“Comedy is exaggerated realism. It can be stretched to the almost ludicrous, but it must always be believable.” – Paul Lynde