Wealth of Wisdom, The Top 50 Questions Wealthy Families Ask
#2; What Are the Most Important Factors in Living Well
Good literature (and films) is a wonderful resource for exploring the most important factors in living well. My personal favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life” explores the idea that family, friends and community are the bedrock of living well.
King Lear is deeply instructional on familial love, as the disinherited daughter Cordlia continues to be truthful and shows compassion to her father “The King” after her 2 sisters have long stolen his title and money. That sort of love is what we as parents all look for, and certainly can be understood as a life well lived.
In “Death of a Salesman”, Willie Loman believes working hard, stability and wanting the same for his son, “Biff” is the stuff of living well, only to find in the end that neither Willie, nor Biff want those things. And while Willie labored to endear himself to his son, could not morally hold up to Biff’s high lofted perception. In the end, Biff remembers his father as having the wrong dreams, and never really knows who he really was. While Willie deeply loved his son, it was Biff who in the end lived life on his own terms, despite Willie’s guidance, and it was Biff with the well lived life.
Similarly named and personified, “Death of Ivan Ilyich” written by Leo Tostoy (admittedly I have not read this one yet, but I did get the synapsis) explores wealth, success and honor and how living superficially will not bring the amount of lasting joy and inheritance many of us believe. However, on his deathbed, the successful Russian attorney Ilyich grieves for the time he lost chasing a career and not a deeper relationship with his children. Ivan lived his whole life without ever truly learning how to get outside of himself in love for someone else. Finally, in the end, his schoolboy son taught him how to do so.
Reading fiction like this and discussing it with others is one of the best ways to identify the most important factors in living well.
Some thoughts and lessons from these stories:
1. Strive for extraordinary, not ordinary
2. Don’t get so enamored with climbing the ladder of success, you miss the rungs, enjoy and appreciate the day-to-day grind
3. Pursue your role in life without getting attached to externals
4. Develop personal value to live by authentically, rather than trying to fulfill conventional societal expectations.
5. Only the Examined Life is Worthwhile
6. Understand the role pain and suffering is in growth and accept
All 3 of these stories are family-based examples, I do not believe the authors are assuming or saying that family is the most important factor in living well. I believe they are using those stories as examples of honest living according to one’s own belief as well as continual examination and audit in acting on that belief.
I hope you found some benefit in this question.