Ad astra per aspera, or prospering through adversity

I talked last time about the benefits of life-long learning, and learning as a kind of change for the better. One of the kinds of learning we all need to, and in fact do, engage in constantly is learning from experience. In fact, anyone who fails to learn from experience is going to keep repeating the the same mistakes, and is going to wind up miserable or dead.

In today's adulation of youth culture, it's easy to forget the truth of the old saying that "wisdom comes with age." Not because we automatically become wiser as we grow older (I've known my share of middle-aged or even elderly idiots), but because wisdom comes from experience, and experience accumulates over time. This is not to say that young people can't be wise in some ways, but anyone who is wise at twenty will be even wiser at forty, or at eighty. How do we become wise? By paying attention, learning carefully the lessons that experience -- our own or that of others -- can teach us. If you are a good learner, you'll soon find that you are wiser than your peers who may be navigating life on autopilot.

Keep in mind, though, that some of the most instructive experiences are those when we fail, or have to struggle with adversities that befall us by chance or even through the evil intentions of enemies. The title for this post, ad astra per aspera, is taken from the writings of Cicero, a Roman statesman who lived in the turbulent first century B. C. As  a young man, he wanted to be successful, and he carefully studied the means for achieving the kind of success that was most admired in his day, which happened to be political success. He rose to the top of the political ladder, and might have rested on his laurels afterward, except that his world was changing and the political scene became dominated by power-hungry men who were more interested in their own fame and wealth than the common good. Cicero saw that the tide of public life had turned and realized that politics was no longer the way to serve the common good, so he turned to philosophy (the pursuit of wisdom).

Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight (one of the best teachers), Cicero came to regret having chosen politics over philosophy in his youth, or maybe he just saw that it was time for a midlife career change. Anyway, ad astra per aspera ("to the stars through rough times") was a sentiment that accorded well with the Stoic philosophy he held dear -- don't let life's hardships get you down, find a way to learn (better yourself) from them. If you'd like to learn how one young man has already being learning this lesson, head on over to The Change Blog and read J. C. Deen's personal account, "How Extreme Focus Can Change Your Life."

My own life has provided plenty of uncomfortable situations from which I've learned. What about you? If you've ever benefited from the lesson's of experience -- your own or another's -- why not leave a comment and tell us about it?