Norbert Fabián Čapek’s “Ten Principles of Living”
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| Norbert Fabián Čapek (1870-1942) — A moment of reflection in the woods |
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I’m sure I don’t need to rehearse with you the many reasons, both private and public, why so many people I am talking with at the moment — both inside and outside the circle of our own small community — are now often finding themselves experiencing some very low and debilitating moods. And let’s be honest about it, there’s not a great deal of news about the state of affairs in world that inclines anyone to feel otherwise. Naturally I, too, am often experiencing a deep lowness of spirits and this makes me feel that our/my dark, and indeed darkening, mood needs directly addressing. But how best to do this in an authentic, creative, inquiring, liberative, and free-religious way?
Well, firstly, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think it’s permissible for any kind of creative, inquiring, liberative, free-religion to try falsely to lift people’s mood by encouraging people to put their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing’s really wrong. As I think most of you already know, I think we need to take very seriously the English idealist philosopher, F. H. Bradley’s advice that, “where everything is bad it must be good to know the worst,” and “where all is rotten it is our work to cry stinking fish” (F. H. Bradley, Preface to “Appearance and Reality”, 1893, p. xv). I’m convinced it’s vital for us to remain completely aware of the bad things going around us and to be prepared to call-out the rottenness of so many of our human ways of being.
Secondly, I also think it is wrong for any kind of creative, inquiring, liberative, free-religion merely to attempt to lift a person’s mood by proclaiming that people should have faith in the kind of God who, to quote that great critic of conventional religion, A. E. Housman, will simply “Bow hither out of heaven and see and save.” This is because I think it is important to take seriously the panentheistic idea so often found within Unitarian, or Unitarian-adjacent circles that, if everything is in God-or-Nature then, in some fashion, God-or-Nature needs us as much as we need God-or-Nature. The creative work of life and existence in general is collaborative and it requires us always-already to be doing our modest bit. An aspect of this thought is, of course, found in the words said each week to conclude our lighting of candles:
“Although we may often doubt that our prayers can change anything, let us never forget that prayer changes people and people change things. May our prayers so change us that we can become the hands of holy creativity, love and justice in this, our most beautiful, but often bruised and hurting, world.”
So, to return to my question, what is a creative, inquiring, liberative, free-religion to do about our shared dark and darkening mood?
Well, it’s a question that was addressed directly by an important, twentieth-century Unitarian figure who found himself and his community facing the darkest of moods as their homeland of Czechoslovakia was overrun and brutalised by the Nazis between 1938 and 1945. That person was the founder of the modern Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia, Norbert Fabián Čapek (1870–1942) whose most famous and influential book, “Toward the Sunny Shore: A Guide to Living Joyfully” (“K slunnému brehu: Prúvodce do radostného Zivota”) was written in the hope it would provide for the Czech people “a form of mental nourishment — a way to create, savour, and internalise thoughts on mood, giving us strength,” by offering them “a remedy for many and balm for the wounds of the heart!” and “sunshine that brightens and lightens the lives of many!” At heart, its basic message was that to a significant degree “people can choose their own moods [and] direct their own feelings,” and that they should, above all, “try everything with humour.”
Although some people I have met and talked with about Čapek over the years have claimed that the ideas found in his book, and his general attitude to life, were too naively optimistic, it is vital to realise they not only sustained the Religious Society of Czechoslovak (and later Czech) Unitarians through both WWII and then the Communist regime that followed between 1948 to 1989, but they also sustained Čapek bravely and good-humouredly throughout his imprisonment in Dachau Concentration Camp and right on up to his death on October 12, 1942 at Hartheim Castle, near Linz, Austria, where he was killed by poison gas. It’s also important to be aware that Čapek’s ideas and example continue to inspire the Čzech Unitarians today.
Given this truth, and the fact that I think we need to begin explicitly and consistently to address our own liberal religious and political culture’s current and understandably poor, collective mood, I thought it would be a good thing to read his book and see what I could learn from it and then, perhaps, to pass some of its wisdom on to you.
Now, back in 2006/2007 when I was last exploring Čapek’s work in some depth in preparation for a book chapter I was writing called “The Religious Society of Czech Unitarians (RSCU) and the construction of Czech National Identity” (published in, Lucia Faltin, Melanie J. Wright eds, The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity, London : Continuum, p. 143-155), because no English translation had yet been made, I had to rely on Petr Dolák Samojský’s invaluable English précis of the 1939 edition of Čapek’s book. And when, a couple of weeks ago, I made the decision to read Čapek’s book — I actually decided it on November 6th on hearing the news of Donald Trump’s victory in the US election — I rather naively thought that, surely, an English translation would have been made by now. Alas, a quick internet search revealed that this was not the case. That was, I’ll admit, disappointing, but thankfully, my recent successful, and frankly thrilling, experience of using ChatGPT and DeepL alongside good online dictionaries and with the help my Japanese friends, to produce a good, heavy-lifted, first draft of the essays by the important Japanese Yuniterian (sic) and advocate of free-religion, Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988) out into the English-speaking world, made me realise that the same thing could now be done with Čapek’s “Toward the Sunny Shore: A Guide to Living Joyfully.” So, that project is now underway and you can find the book going up, chapter by chapter, on my blog.
However, this translation work will take a while so, today, simply as an initial taster to the basic tenor of Čapek’s own creative, inquiring, free and liberative spirituality, I’ll leave you with a draft English translation of his “Ten Principles of Living.” To repeat some of Čapek’s words from the preface of his book, I hope these ten, brief principles are able to offer you some form of mental nourishment at this dark time and help light a way for you to begin to create, savour, and internalise your own thoughts on mood, giving you strength in the days, months and years ahead.
Ten Principles of Living
1) Live simply. Live in such a way that you have few needs. Don’t worry unnecessarily, especially don’t let other people’s worries trouble you. Be content with what you have.
2) Don’t cling to material things. Remember that material things are fleeting. Be interested in deeper things; you will gain more. Keep your inner freedom.
3) Live with beauty. Don’t forget beautiful, joyful moments, but let go of sad, unpleasant ones. Rid yourself of anger, resentment, hatred, and forgive those who hurt you. Be grateful for kindness, and don’t forget it.
4) Live in the present. True life is what you are experiencing right now. Don’t fear the future – trust in it. Don’t think about old age, and don’t dwell too much on the past.
5) Be creative. Don’t be idle and always keep yourself occupied with something. Stay curious; always learn and educate yourself.
6) Seek beauty. Take joy in beautiful things, nature, music, literature, and other arts. Beauty is food for the soul.
7) Rejoice. Keep yourself in good spirits. Cultivate humour, and remember that a cheerful mind is half of both health and beauty.
8) Love people. Show kindness to others, and they’ll show it to you. Help others! Think more about making others happy than about your own troubles. If you can’t say something good about others, it’s better to remain silent.
9) Be modest. Practice moderation and restraint in all things.
10) Have faith. Take care of your faith in God – the Supreme Wisdom. Be aware of its presence within yourself and in everything.
1) Žijte jednoduše. Žijte prostě, abyste měli málo potřeb. Nedělejte si zbytečné starosti, zvláště cizí si nepřipouštějte. Buďte spokojeni s tím, co máte.
2) Nelpěte na hmotných věcech. Mějte na paměti, že hmotné věci jsou pomíjivé. Zajímejte se o věci hlubší, víc získáte. Zachovejte si vnitřní svobodu.
3) Žijte krásou. Nezapomínejte na krásné, radostné okamžiky, ale zapomeňte na smutné, nepříjemné. Zbavte se zloby, zášti, nenávisti a odpouštějte těm, kdo vám ublíží. Za dobro buďte vděční, nezapomínejte na ně.
4) Žijte přítomností. Pravý život je to, co prožíváte právě nyní. Budoucnosti se nebojte – věřte v ni. Na stáří nemyslete a na minulost příliš nevzpomínejte.
5) Buďte tvůrčí. Nezahálejte a stále se něčím zaměstnávejte. Buďte tvořiví, stále se učte a vzdělávejte.
6) Hledejte krásu. Těšte se z krásných věcí, přírody, hudby, literatury a jiných umění. Krása je potravou duše.
7) Radujte se. Udržujte se v dobré náladě. Pěstujte humor a pamatujte, že veselá mysl je půl zdraví a půl krásy.
8) Mějte rádi lidi. Mějte lidi rádi a lidé budou mít rádi vás. Pomáhejte druhým! Více než na své trápení myslete na to, jak udělat radost druhým. Nemůžete-li o druhých mluvit dobře, raději mlčte.
9) Buďte skromní. Zachovejte si střídmost a ve všem buďte umírnění.
10) Mějte víru. Dbejte o vaši víru v Boha – Nejvyšší Moudrost. Uvědomujte si její přítomnost v sobě i ve všem.
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