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Boredom and Empty Living

Word 20 · Blessed Are the Foolish


All of us know: nothing can over-rule fate. A feeling of satiety is characteristic of man; it does not come of one’s own volition, but is predestined by fate. Having once experienced satiety, one will no longer be able to get rid of it. Even if you do your utmost and manage to shake it off, it will pursue and overwhelm you nonetheless.

A good many things cause satiety and surfeit. There is nothing more or less with which a man cannot be sated: food, amusements, fashion, feasts and parties, the desire to excel others, and women. Sooner or later, discovering the vanity and viciousness of all that, he will become disenchanted and indifferent. Like everything else in this world, man’s life and his destiny are subject to change. No living creature on earth can remain quiescent. So where could the constancy of feelings come from?

Satiety is the lot even of clever people who seek perfection in life, who know the worth of many things, who are fastidious and can perceive the vanity of human existence. He who has realized the transitory nature of earthly joys will grow weary of life.

I think to myself blessed is he who is silly and carefree.

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Explanation

Word 20 · Blessed Are the Foolish

Main idea

Abai writes about satiety, which fate gives to every person: one grows sated with food, amusements, feasts, praise and pleasures. It comes most to the thoughtful, who see the vanity of everything — so the silly and carefree seem blessed.

In plain words

  • As Abai says, “nothing can over-rule fate”: once satiety comes, it returns even if you shake it off.
  • One can be sated with anything: food, amusements, fashion, feasts, the desire to excel, women.
  • Life and destiny change: “No living creature on earth can remain quiescent.”
  • Satiety is the lot even of clever people, who can perceive “the vanity of human existence”.
  • So Abai thinks: “blessed is he who is silly and carefree”.

Difficult words

Satiety
being so full of something that it no longer pleases.
Surfeit
too much of something.
Quiescent
still, unchanging.
Fastidious
hard to please.

Something to reflect on

When you grow tired of something, how do you deal with it?

An editorial note, not Abai’s words. Prepared with the help of AI.

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