How to Live Well
Geoffrey Moore
Author, speaker, advisor, best known for Crossing the Chasm, Zone to Win and The Infinite Staircase. Board Member of nLight, WorkFusion, and Phaidra. Chairman Emeritus Chasm Group & Chasm Institute.
The title for this post was inspired by a book review in the Time Literary Supplement, November 25, 2022, which discusses three recently published books on how we can live well (Growing Moral, by Stephen C. Angle; Breakfast with Seneca, by David Fideler; and How to Be You, by Skye Cleary).?How to live well is also the focus of my own foray into this genre, The Infinite Staircase, so, unsurprisingly, I was very interested to read what Emily Thomas had to say.
Each book calls out a different philosopher for our consideration.?For Angle, it is Confucius, for Fideler, Seneca, and for Cleary, Simone de Beauvoir.?What all three books have in common is a reliance on virtue as the platform for addressing life’s challenges.?That is, while Confucian, Stoic, and Existentialist worldviews differ greatly from one another, all converge on individuals choosing to conform to a set of ethics they identify with, one that lets them both navigate the world and protect their own psyches.?All three presume a metaphysics that is either neutral or hostile, so we should neither expect nor seek help from outside ourselves.?Self-reliance is the key.
I think this is great for anyone whose self is in good shape.?But that is not always the case, even for the best of us, and certainly not for a mass of humanity “leading lives of quiet desperation”.?When the self is not in good shape, we lack not only the perspective but the moral energy to execute a virtue-based strategy for living.?We need some way to get whole, or even just to refill the tank.?The virtue-based solution to this challenge is to withdraw into ourselves, to reason our way back to health, but again, that assumes that the self is a good and safe place to be—not always the case.?Hence, in The Infinite Staircase, the focus is first on describing and getting access to a metaphysics beyond ourselves that can provide such support, with the important constraint that it does so in a secular context that does not require religious belief.
Confucianism comes the closest to providing such a platform.?It relies on tradition, ritual, society, and most of all, family, as sources of external support for living well.?By engaging with these forces in a spirit of respect and gratitude, we can align ourselves with the best that humanity has to offer.?There is a lot to like in that.?One problem with it, however, is that we are bombarded daily with digital media that undermine the credibility of each of these institutions.?It is hard to reject all these signals as just so much digital noise, and the degree to which we accept them, we have to build internal barriers against the very forces that are supposed to be protecting us.
Stoicism embraces this challenge directly: Yep, that is exactly what we have to do!?Its approach is to embrace a hyper-rational self that maintains its distance from all things, creating emotional stability through intellectual detachment.?In this it has links to Confucianism’s superior man as described in the I Ching (Book of Changes)—it is not the things of this world that can overthrow us, but rather our attachment to them.?The problem with this is that attachment is fundamental to our mammalian nature.?It is built into us from birth through the experience of nurture.?Yes, it makes us vulnerable, but it also brings us joy and fulfillment.?That is simply too great an asset to set aside.
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Existentialism embraces the challenge of vulnerability through the concept of authenticity.?The concept can be a bit befuddling in the abstract, but it becomes very clear if you rephrase it in relation to narrative: Find or create the narratives that inspire you, and live your life in accordance with them.?In this context, your self is comprised of the roles you act out as you perform these scripts, and your life history is the accumulation of all your performances to date.?Of the three approaches, this is the one that resonates best with me, but it still needs to deal with the need for metaphysical support.?Fiction alone is not a substitute, regardless of how compelling it is.
In closing, do I think The Infinite Staircase could save your life??No.?But I do think it can help frame the way you go about your life in a way that aligns both with traditional ethics and contemporary science-based metaphysics.?If you are interested in any of the books under review here, I bet you would be interested in this one as well.?
That’s what I think.?What do you think?
Ghostwriter. Marketer. Brand coach.
1 年Geoffrey, it's wonderful that such a comprehensive thinker and consummate writer is addressing these topics. Engaging in this conversation from a business context adds a layer of 'true grit' that is sometimes (oftentimes) absent from the messaging arriving from the New Age, Self-Help, and 'others' camp. If I may make a recommendation to complement your book, give a listen to the YouTube lecture series #AwakeningFromTheMeaningCrisis, by John Vervaeke. At 50 1-hour lectures, it's an undertaking. And it's not easy (but Moore readers aren't dumb). But gosh is it rewarding. Cheers-
Just downloaded your book Geoffrey.... Crossing the Chasm from the Business World into the Spiritual realm of knowing ones self. Looking forward to diving in.
I help consultants, real estate agents and salespeople showcase their expertise, grow their reach, and lead their markets with innovative technology. DM me to check it out | WSJ Bestselling Author
2 年We should take care of ourselves. It’s harder to reach our goals when we don’t prioritize our well-being. It’s important for us to live well.
Senior Product Manager @ Eviden | AI Powered Advanced Software
2 年So true! As usual you spot it right. Thank you Geoffrey Moore for this very clear article. Very interesting. So now I need to get this book you refer to ?? Merry Xmas and happy new year! All the best. Jacques
Author and co-founder Simple. Not Easy | Architect for Life | Business Transformation | Creative Solutions | Insightful Dot Connector | Lifelong Learner | Relentless Optimist | Curious Observer
2 年Excellent summary and insightful comments. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Infinite Staircase,’ specifically how you layered each stair on the next in infinite directions and made it accessible to all; moreover, your use of ‘spirit’ was a game-changer.