In Praise of Folly
In Praise of Folie, the famous satire created in 1509 by the celebrated Dutch humanist philosopher, scholar, theologian, man of letters, and polyglot Desiderius Erasmus, seems relevant even now. Over the centuries, people have found this book highly entertaining and, above all, extremely informative. In fact, it appears to be a cornerstone in the grand structure of the European Enlightenment, attesting that Erasmus was among those that had stood by its cradle. Half in jest, it offers an analysis of the impact of stupidity on the life of man and society. Stupidity has governed people at all times, in all strata, occupations, age groups, including secular and religious figures, paupers and kings. In Praise of Folly proved a great success with the author’s contemporaries. After the first two editions in 1511, the book appeared in print again the next year, in Strasbourg, Antwerp, and Paris. A print run of 20,000 copies, unprecedented in Europe at the time, vanished from the bookstores almost as soon as they were displayed.
Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Catholic monk, further championed an Evangelical purity of the Christian faith in his works, condemning cults and the worship of saints, something he found very much on the heathen side. He was for the spirit of the faith and attacked what he saw as make-believe Christianity. Europe was then about to enter the epoch of Reformation and Protestantism (Erasmus would remain Catholic). He laid down these ideas in his Praise of Folie. Below are several excerpts and inferences from the book.
“...you’ll meet with some so preposterously religious that they will sooner endure the broadest scoffs even against Christ himself than hear the Pope or a prince be touched in the least, especially if it be anything that concerns their profit...”
“...the common people think there’s no more in that sacrifice than to be present at the altar and crowd next to it, to have a noise of words and look upon the ceremonies.”
Look at all those gifts signifying gratitude and embellishing the walls of some church buildings, reaching to the ceiling [Erasmus noted]. Would you spot there a single sacrifice allowing a worshipper to rid himself of stupidity, so he could have a little more reason than a log? No one has ever expressed gratitude for being conferred the gift of intellect (just as no one has ever attempted to ask the Lord to give him that gift). Meanwhile, there is an Ancient Greek saying that it is impossible to list all the existing varieties of fools or to specify all those innumerable kinds of stupidity (except maybe in Yiddish — Ed.). Mankind has erected a multitude of monuments to stupidity, matching the number of people inhabiting third world. Cicero said, “All things are full of fools.”
“...what is all this life but a kind of comedy, wherein men walk up and down in one another’s disguises and act their respective parts, until the property-man brings them back to the attiring house. And yet he often orders a different dress, and makes him that came but just now off in the robes of a king put on the rags of a beggar.”
“... go whither you will, among prelates, princes, judges, magistrates, friends, enemies, from highest to lowest, and you’ll find all things done by money; which, as a wise man condemns it, so it takes a special care not to come near him.”
You will not suffer much by failing to notice your own stupidity, for the world is such that the more ignorant, arrogant, or reckless you get, the greater value you have in other peoples’ eyes.
“...’tis a sad thing, they say, to be mistaken. Nay rather, he is most miserable that is not so. For they are quite beside the mark that place the happiness of men in things themselves, since it only depends upon opinion. For so great is the obscurity and variety of human affairs that nothing can be clearly known, as it is truly said by our academics, the least insolent of all the philosophers; or if it could, it would but obstruct the pleasure of life... the mind of man is so framed that it is rather taken with the false colors than truth...”
“...methinks I hear the philosophers opposing it and saying ‘tis a miserable thing for a man to be foolish, to err, mistake, and know nothing truly. Nay rather, this is to be a man.”
“But to return to the happiness of fools, who when they have passed over this life with a great deal of pleasantness and without so much as the least fear or sense of death, they go straight forth into the Elysian field, to recreate their pious and careless souls with such sports as they used here. Let’s proceed then, and compare the condition of any of your wise men with that of this fool. Fancy to me now some example of wisdom you’d set up against him...”
Folly is spread in the world on a much larger scale than is generally believed. One can constantly witness a couple of true madmen ridiculing each other, both delighting in the process, each believing himself the wiser.
For many fools the notion of shame does not exist; they are unaware of it or easily put up with it. Yes, it is a shame when a stone falls and strikes your head as you walk along a street. As for disgrace, abuse, or a bad reputation, these are nuisances, as long as we notice them. If we don’t, no big deal. So you hear their smirking remarks and catcalls, so what? As long as you can arrange for an ovation, you are OK. All this is possible and widespread courtesy of His Majesty Folly.
“... if a man...could look down from the moon and behold those innumerable rufflings of mankind, he would think he saw a swarm of flies and gnats quarreling among themselves, fighting, laying traps for one another, snatching, playing, wantoning, growing up, falling, and dying. Nor is it to be believed what stir, what broils, this little creature raises, and yet in how short a time it comes to nothing itself; while sometimes war, other times pestilence, sweeps off many thousands of them together.”
“And ... our philosophers, so much reverenced for their furred gowns and starched beards that they look upon themselves as the only wise men and all others as shadows... they frame in their heads innumerable worlds; measure out the sun, the moon, the stars, nay and heaven itself, as it were, with a pair of compasses; lay down the causes of lightning, winds, eclipses, and other the like inexplicable matters; and all this too without the least doubting, as if they were Nature’s secretaries, or dropped down among us from the council of the gods; while in the meantime Nature laughs at them and all their blind conjectures. For that they know nothing...”
The Word, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, the Psalms attribute “wisdom to God alone... leaving folly to all men else, and again... All things are full of fools...Let not man glory in his wisdom... The heart of the wise is where sadness is, but the heart of fools follows mirth... He that increases knowledge, increases grief; and in much understanding there is much indignation...”
