Self-awareness remains as rare a phenomenon nowadays as it has been in prior generations. It requires the ability to apply philosophical ideas in daily life, weighing them against social pressures, personal convenience, and short-term practicality.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was the first essayist in history to practise self-awareness systematically. He displayed enormous efforts to compare abstractions with facts, emotions with prejudices, ethics with rationalisations, and beliefs with fashions.
We can draw from Montaigne’s essays crucial advice about how to increase our alertness and self-awareness. If we follow those practices, chances are that we will make better decisions and attain our goals faster with less efforts. Let us pass review to those recommendations.
[1] Self-awareness is easier to acquire in solitude. This does not mean that solitude should be embraced as a lifestyle. It is a question of degree. Montaigne himself shows us the way in his own life, when he chose to quit his profession and retire to live in a farm as of 1571. He was thirty-eight years old at that time.
Montaigne devoted his essay “On Solitude” to underlining the importance of occasional periods of quietness to figure out what we want from life exactly.
Note that solitude does not mean seclusion or isolation. It only means that we are separating ourselves from the noise of the world.
To a great extent, Montaigne also practised solitude when he travelled in 1580 to take the waters in Italy, Switzerland and Germany, trying to find a remedy for his kidney stones.
Those periods of solitude enabled Montaigne to recharge spiritually, only to work even more productively upon his return to France.
I think that nowadays most people can afford mini-periods of solitude to recharge their energies. I regard this practice as highly beneficial for generating fresh ideas and plans for the future.
Michel de Montaigne’s essay “On Pedantry”
[2] Self-awareness needs to be cultivated on purpose. It will not come naturally for most people, in the same way that long-term thinking does not come naturally.
We need to push ourselves to gain knowledge, integrate it into larger concepts, test our conclusions in reality, and correct them when proven wrong. The whole process requires a strong dose of intellectual humility.
Montaigne underlined the key importance of practising self-awareness in good and bad times, in public and in solitude, in easy and difficult situations. He vowed himself to do so during his term as Mayor of Bordeaux (1581-1585) as well as during his quiet life in the farmhouse.
[3] We are the main beneficiaries of our self-awareness. The purpose of self-awareness is private and should remain private. We should not use self-awareness to show off, demonstrating how perceptive and enlightened we are. Instead, let us draw its practical benefits and enjoy them quietly.
Montaigne’s essay “On Pedantry” makes precisely this point by attacking scholarship devoid of practical applications. The archetypical scholar has little self-awareness.
He will quote sources of authority in support of his ideals, but then prove unable to apply them in real life. He practises assertiveness without empathy, rigidity without proportion, and knowledge without wisdom.
Self-awareness requires linking abstract advice and today’s problems. Montaigne criticizes people who quote Aristotle to look clever, but have little understanding of Aristotelian ideas.
The same criticism should be addressed, says Montaigne, to physicians who memorize prescriptions given by Hippocrates (460-370 BC) but prove unable to cure patients.
Arrogance and the search for fame go hand in hand: they’ll destroy self-awareness if we don’t commit ourselves to staying modest and realistic.
Neither rote memorisation nor an exaggerated emphasis on mathematics can develop self-awareness. Pythagoras (570-495 BC) came up with complex calculation methods, but failed to convey practical wisdom, argues Montaigne. I fully support his standpoint in this matter.
Michel de Montaigne’s essay “On Repentance.”
[4] Self-awareness rests on examining our mistakes, day in and day out, so that we can perform better next time. In his essay titled “On Repentance,” Montaigne regarded learning far more important than self-chastisement.
Let’s not be too hard on ourselves when we make mistakes, especially when those are made in good faith. Self-awareness is crucial for finding the right balance between repentance and a cold-bloodiness, enabling us to improve our decisions.
Montaigne notes that his conscience remains serene in times of trouble, even after making a severe mistake. He is willing to acknowledge his errors and take corrective action, but finds it wasteful to fall into an immobilising depression.
Self-awareness consists of thinking about our own thinking methods, eliminate distortions and take optimal decisions. “We should accept human nature as fallible,” argues Montaigne. It’s no use engaging into self-flagellation or endless lamentations.
Who was Montaigne’s favourite example of self-awareness? The Greek general Epaminondas (418-362 BC), who remained calm when unjustly accused of treason. He had the presence of mind to rebut the accusations systematically, explaining what had happened and why.
Epaminondas wisely assessed the situation, drawing from a set of general principles (integrity, truthfulness, fairness), that enabled him to withstand social pressure.
Self-awareness enables us to resist the impulse to “follow our inclinations and let our emotions carry the day.” Instead of making bad decisions, let us embrace rationality and serenity. They demand higher efforts in the short term, but the rewards are exceptionally valuable.
If you are interested in putting rational ideas into practice in all sort of circumstances, I recommend you my book “Rational living, rational working.”