I’ve been reading a fascinating treatise by Ryan Holiday on Michel de Montaigne, the 16th century writer and philosopher.
Holiday wrote the guest post entitled The Expermental Life: An Introduction to Michel de Montaigne on Tim Ferriss’s blog, The Blog of Tim Ferriss: Experiments in Lifestyle Design.
The post profiles Montaigne, who is credited with creating the essay, something that has been probably the one saving grace in my life. I have always loved to write and the essay, even in school, was something I was always good at. If passing a class depended on an essay test, I knew I could ace the class. Just show up to most classes, pay attention, make a few notes and I was golden. Essays, to me, have held a certain aura; they are a unique–and rarely used–form of writing that I have always found to be right up my alley.
I suppose that is because I’ve often struggled to express myself in person. Put me in a group of people and I’m the quiet guy in the corner. It’s not that I don’t consider myself witty or that I can’t carry on a good conversation, but there’s something about the social interaction that seems to dull my reflexes.
Writing, however, especially in an essay, allows me to express myself and my ideas in an eloquent way. In the 10+ years since I took my last writing class in college, I have written a lot but it has been articles for small magazines or newsletters, technical pieces for trade journals, press releases, brochure copy, catalog copy, … you get the idea. I have not practiced the fine art of essay writing. It was a nice reminder of why I got into writing in the first place…to express my thoughts in the way I was best suited.
The post about Montaigne spoke to me in more ways than informing me (or reinforming me since I must’ve learned it at some point) that he’d coined the term. The post also explained Montaigne’s modus operandi, his way of approaching life and using the essay as a means to his end.
Montaigne was a philosopher in the truest sense; he studied life and how we can wring all that we can from the short bit of time each of us is given.
Holiday informs his reader that Montaigne used his essay form to “ruminate” on various topics. He traveled in his various roles for King and Country, and used the experiences he had as fodder for his writing. He was not stuck to on singular subject but instead used his life’s occupation, as Holiday calls it, to be the muse that lead his pen.
The topics he chose to write about were just jumping-off points, exercises to practice thinking and to discover thoughts he didn’t know that he had. His brand of ceaseless curiosity and self-reflection is something we can learn much from, starting by internalizing his biggest breakthrough.
I think I literally heard a bell go off in my head as I read that paragraph. Something clicked and I saw, in a rare clarity, something I hadn’t been able to put my finger on. It was something I’d seen out of the corner of my eye, occasionally catching a glimpse of it but rarely seeing it clearly. Over the years, I’ve seen it in the occasional magazine photograph – the man crouched next to dugout canoes on the banks of some African river – but the deeper meaning quickly eluded me.
It suddenly became clear to me what all the little moments in my life had been leading up to; what all the little interests and seeming sidetracks had meant. They were all leading to the same place, even if at the time they seemed to be taking me away from the sure path of my life.
I realized in that moment that I am exactly what this site is about…I am an explorer. But more than being an explorer of places, trying to fill in the empty spaces on a map, I am an explorer of life. I am trying to fill in the blank spaces of the map that is me.
The post about Montaigne goes on to discuss his modus operandi in three lessons we can learn from the man and his approach to life:
- Self-experimentation and observation
- Keep a commonplace book
- Que sais je? (Don’t take yourself to seriously)
I will leave you to check out post by Holiday (link is at the top of this post in case you missed it) since he does a superb job of explaining each of these areas. But I will tell you that it opened my eyes to just how I can go about my own life, how to examine my own life and see each attempt to find my path not as another opportunity to fail but another experiment with results. They may be positive results, leading to new opportunities. They may be negative results, another method that does not work.
I’ve read that Thomas Edison tried something like 1,000 different filaments for his light bulb before finding the right one. He didn’t fail 999 times; it just took him that many tries before he was able to refine the exact material he needed to make a successful filament.
And that is my new mantra, I do not fail. I just haven’t succeed yet.
But beyond just realizing that not succeeding doesn’t mean failure, I found my own modus operandi, my own approach to life. I will continue to experiment with my life and how I can get myself closer to my goals. And I will keep my own Commonplace Book. In fact, I will be creating a section on this blog to share those thoughts, ideas, quotes, what-have-you with my readers. I’m sure I will also keep a written journal…there’s just something I like about the tactile feel of writing with a pen in a notebook. But I will endeavor to share what I learn with my readers.
And that leads me to #3 – que said je – I won’t take myself to seriously.
I recall hearing years ago that to be a writer, you must be willing to run naked down Main St., at least in a figurative sense. It means that a writer must be prepared to bear his soul, to let it all hang out. Nothing can be hidden. For a guy who’s more comfortable observing and not being part of the action (its the anthropologist in me), this is a struggle. But is a goal. And it is a promise to you.
Keep me to that promise. If ever you read something on this blog and think, “he’s holding back, he’s not expressing his true views, he’s not fully (metaphorically) naked in this essay,” call me on it. Take me to task.
So, what did I learn from Ryan Holiday’s post about Michel de Montaigne? I learned that I, too, can be a philosopher. I, too, can study life and uncover at least a little bit of what it has to teach us. And I can share what I learn by writing about it. I will continue to write articles and brochure copy…it is what puts bread on the table…but I will refocus myself on writing essays.
If only I had a place to publish them…oh, wait…that’s what The Lunatic Ltd is all about. It is my forum for exploring life and writing essays about it. It is a place where I can share my experiences, my education, my thought and ideas with others.
It has given me permission, if you will, to refocus this blog from just another travel blog (which I never wanted it to be, there are enough great travel blogs out there!) and make it more of an explorer’s blog with the subject of my exploration being life, my own and that of those who I meet on my travels. It gives me something to write about on a regular basis (that’s been my struggle this year as I haven’t traveled as much as I’d hope…how do you run a travel blog when you aren’t traveling?).
So keep a look out for a daily, or nearly daily, post from me on what I’ve learned from life. I will begin to share with you more of my struggles, my self-experimentation (whether good or not-so-good results), my Commonplace Book entries and great stories from the road when I do get out there on a more regular basis.
Revised on December 14, 2010