The Hidden Pleasure of Life

Notes on Theodore Zeldins book

What is a wasted life? Why do so many people feel unappreciated, unloved and only half-alive?

These, among many others, are questions through which Oxford scholar Theodor Zeldin guides us in his bestseller The Hidden Pleasures of Life.

But what are the hidden pleasures of life?

To answer this question, I will link together a few chapters with my personal thoughts and extract their key message.

Finding wealth outside of consumerism#

The french revolution official ended on November 9th 1799, declaring the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity we claim the “western world” is build around.

127 years later, Gorge S. Clason wrote “The Richest Man in Babylon”, a personal finance classic which advises:

“Control thy Expenditures”

Simple, isn’t it? To live a financially stable life we have to consume consciously. Why is it then that the united states are the most publicly and privately indebted nation? Debt doesn’t fit together with liberty.

Zeldin argues it is modern technology

“[…] which enabled them [the U.S.A.] to produce far more than they could consume, so they had to seek new markets and entice everyone to buy as much as possible […]” (Chapter 16, p. 218)

Now we slowly start to realise that we’ve got carried away by our technologies. That “[d]esire, possession and distraction govern [us] […] as much as liberty, equality and fraternity”. Blind consumerism blurred the core ideals of our society, leaving us only half-alive.

“It is precisely such collapse of meaning that, in previous centuries, have spurred youth to new adventures” (Chapter 23, p. 323)

We have to re-think our perception of wealth. Instead of financial wealth, Zeldin proposes “[s]ympathy, understanding, trust and gratitude”.

Learning from the past to improve the future#

To put this new form of wealth into action, it is time to learn from our mistakes.

And we do. Trends like New Work prove that there is interest in change. We are starting to move from the growth society to a post-growth society, rediscovering the true values of modernity.

While this can be applied on a socio-economic scale, it can be applied individually as well.

By learning from the past, hard times become valuable:

“Suddenly, the idea of progress becomes very useful, because it provides a framework into which each can give significance to a person struggle […]” (Chapter 28, p. 388)

One of the hidden pleasures of life is progress . Learning from the past and thereby improving the future

Exploring different perspectives#

There can’t be improvement without discourse.

Similar to how we just now start to wake up from the american dream, we have to wake up from the illusions we have about ourselves.

Listening to- and learning from others is perhaps the most reoccurring theme in this book.

To Zeldin, the greatest pleasure of life is to explore the world around him - and the 8 billion different minds that inhabit it.

“[S]ee every life as an experiment, which has questions to ask and something interesting to say […]” (Chapter 2, p. 41)

Understanding knowledge#

Still, we can’t know everything, and maybe we shouldn’t.

With the internet, information spreads faster than ever. But by knowing so much, we tend to feel like we can only do little.

“I live in the Information age, the knowledge economy and the lifelong learning society, and never the less I feel profoundly ignorant.” (Chapter 27, p.372)

Consuming a lot of information might give the impression of creating knowledge, when in reality there’s more to it.

To create knowledge, we have to piece together different information into complex patterns. That’s why Zeldin considers the modern separation of practical and abstract knowledge “damaging”.

This theory of interconnection between practical and abstract knowledge is called intellectualism. It originates from Socrates, who explained:

“one will do what is right or best, just as soon as one truly understands what is right or best”

How do we truly understand what is right? Zeldin argues we should simply accept that we can’t:

“The information I have accumulated in my head does not all point in the same direction. Instead of disturbing me, this gives me a sense of freedom.” (Chapter 27, p. 377)

Here the circle closes by going back to progress. Instead of pursuing ultimate truth, the best we can do is seek progress:

“[W]hat matters is not just how much knowledge I have, but what I do with my knowledge.”

Your knowledge is only as valuable as the value it brings to others.