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Life Lessons: Politically Incorrect Wisdom

Life Lessons strays a little from the path of my past books. All of the
books in my Warrior Wisdom series have focused on idealistic wisdom –
those special qualities which the true warrior should strive to develop in his
life. Life Lessons, on the other hand, looks at the wisdom of living successfully
with other people, specifically those who do not live by the same character
traits as the man of honor and character. Not everyone lives a life of character
and honor. In fact, it is fairly rare to run across someone who takes qualities
such as honor, character, integrity, etc. seriously.

In today’s world, it is much more likely that you will encounter people
who put their own desires and lusts ahead of their character and honor.
Therefore, you need to understand how these people think and what makes
them tick. You need to realize that they most likely do not live by the same
standards as you live by and prepare yourself for what you may encounter
when doing business with these people. As Baltasar Gracian wrote many
years ago, “It is just as important to have studied men, as to have studied
books.”

Although Life Lessons is not an exhaustive study in human nature, it
does give some insight into what you should expect when dealing with other
people and wise ways to keep yourself from being blindsided by their less
than honorable actions. It is always better to be prepared for the worse case
scenario and have things turn out much better than you expected, than to be
unprepared and totally taken by surprise. There is no such thing as being too
prepared. Louis Pasteur stated that, “Chance favors only the prepared mind,”
and that is the purpose of Life Lessons – to prepare your mind for what you
may encounter in a world becoming more and more void of men of character.

Life Lessons focuses on the wisdom of nine of the world’s foremost
authorities on human nature: Jean de la Bruyere, Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, Lord Chesterfield, Niccolo Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Baltasar Gracian,
Francesco Guicciardini, Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld, and Han Fei
Tzu. You may be familiar with some of these men and others you may find
that you have never heard of before, but you will be familiar with each by the
time you finish this book, at or least how each of them thought when it comes
to human nature and dealing with people.

Likewise, you may find some of these men an odd choice to be included in
a book on wisdom, as some of these men are not considered to be bastions of
wisdom. But each of these men is included in Life Lessons for their specific
insight into human nature. Some are included for their insights in how to deal
with leaders and men of power, and others for their wise insights into human
nature as a whole. Each has his own perspective, but taken together you can
start to see the nature of human beings that has changed little over the centuries.

Also, you may consider many of the views or insights that these men held
toward people in general to be a bit negative. I urge you not to focus too
much on whether or not their views toward other people are pessimistic, but
rather whether or not their views are accurate. Think about whether or not
the views that these men of old held toward others still apply to people today?
Have people become more honorable over the centuries or more self-serving?
Of course, these views will not apply to everyone. If they did, we would all be
in big trouble.

They are not meant to be an absolute, faultless picture of human nature,
but rather a general observation which applies to the majority of people in
which you will encounter. See the wisdom contained in this book as more of
a broad-spectrum admonition to consider when dealing with those who you
don’t really know well enough to be able to discern their character. Lord
Chesterfield put it nicely when he said, “The knowledge of mankind is a very
useful knowledge for everybody…You will have to deal with all sorts of
characters; you should therefore know them thoroughly, in order to manage
them ably.”

It is the aspiration of Life Lessons to leave you with a large portion of the
knowledge of mankind, or at least enough knowledge to save you from some
of the snares that you will come across during your journey. Life Lessons is
not a scientific study or the last word on human nature, everyone is different
and unique, but Life Lessons can serve as overall indicator of what you can
expect from people in general. The wisdom in Life Lessons not only comes
from the experience of wise men over the centuries, but also from my own
personal experience and worldly wisdom that will enable you to live a
prosperous life.

As you read both the quotes and the commentaries, you will no doubt
recognize both the behaviors and character of many of the people you have
known in your life. Most likely, you will be able to put names and faces to
many of the characterizations which are portrayed in this book. The reason
for this is that there are actually human characteristics which transcend both
time and cultures. People are people, and there will always be honorable
people and dishonorable people. You need to understand how to deal with all
kinds of people.

While it is true that you learn to deal with people by actually doing so, you
can learn from the wisdom and mistakes of others. There is no reason to
reinvent the wheel. Heed the admonitions of those men who felt strongly
enough to write their experience down for you. Use their hard learned lessons
to avoid costly mistakes, mistakes which could cost you dearly. While you
should personally strive to live a life of character, honor and integrity, be
aware that the majority of people you meet will not live by the same ideals.

I also want to stress that some of the wisdom which Life Lessons contains
is not necessarily wisdom that the honorable man seeks to incorporate into
his life. For that type of wisdom, you will want to read the Warrior Wisdom
series. There are some morsels of wisdom contained within Life Lessons that
were included specifically for the purpose of explaining how things are, not
how they should be. Please be aware that I am not suggesting that you
incorporate all of these observations in your life, but merely making you
aware of how things truly are in today’s world.

Always strive to develop excellence in your own life, while at the same
time allowing for the fact that others may or may not share your values.
Those who strive for excellence share the same character traits. Likewise
those who do not strive for excellence share similar character traits with each
other. As Charles Caleb Colton wrote, “He that studies books alone will know
how things ought to be; and he who studies men will know how they are. Life
Lessons seeks to disclose how things are, so you can avoid the trap of believing
that people will always act as they should. See things as they are, not as they
should be.


Bohdi Sanders, Ph.D.