In this blog post, we will consider what the life of St. Francis of Assisi, who lived a life of moderation and sharing, can mean to us today.
At the end of the 12th century, a man named Francis was born in the Assisi region of Italy. He is now known as St. Francis. He was born to Pietro di Bernardone, a wealthy merchant in Assisi. As the son of a wealthy merchant, he was good at business and had excellent sales skills. He was well-liked by the people in his neighborhood and was often invited to parties. The person I want to be like is St. Francis, who seems like the perfect young master born into a family with everything he could ever want.
I set several criteria when choosing someone I want to be like. First, they must be able to correct their mistakes. No one can live a perfect life, and I don’t think I can live a perfect life just by imitating someone else. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore your mistakes. When you realize you’ve made a mistake or done something wrong, you must try to correct it, even if it’s difficult.
The second condition is that you must be beautiful on the inside. Inner beauty is not as obvious as outer beauty. That is why I think it is more difficult to make yourself beautiful on the inside. However, the character of people who have cultivated their inner beauty makes me want to be like them.
The third and most important condition is that you must be able to control your emotions and desires. When living among people, there are often situations that we dislike or that make us angry. However, if we get angry or express our anger every time, it will lead to difficult situations. We must also not be overwhelmed by our desires. As human beings, we naturally have many desires, but I believe that we must strive to control them because we are rational beings.
St. Francis of Assisi was born into a wealthy family and was recognized for his abilities. He was good at making money and spent it wisely, and he got along well with his friends. However, this is not the aspect of Francis that I want to emulate. Francis had a beautiful inner self. In the Middle Ages when Francis lived, when he saw homeless people sleeping against the walls of churches, he willingly gave them what he had. He also donated his property to repair a dilapidated church.
Francis was a person who knew how to correct his mistakes. Realizing that his aggressive business dealings could harm others, he stopped doing business. Francis also realized that the parties he enjoyed were meaningless, so he stopped going to them. Francis, who earned a lot of money and spent it well, is said to have stopped wasting money when he reached adulthood.
Francis also controlled his desires well. In his youth, he liked women and enjoyed entertainment. He did not hesitate to engage in extravagant and luxurious behavior. However, he was prepared to face conflict with his father and gave up inheriting the family business. After that, he lived a completely different life. One of his famous quotes is, “I married poverty.” He gave up his desire to live a luxurious and extravagant life and dressed as a poor hermit to save others. However, even after becoming a monk, Francis still felt sexual desire. He was tormented by this, and it is said that he prayed for his lust to disappear and rolled around naked on a bed of thorns until his desires disappeared. What I admire most about Francis is that he made such a bloody effort to suppress his desires.
However, there are also critical views of suppressing desires and living a rational life. Human life is not lived solely by rational judgment, but sometimes it is necessary to enjoy it emotionally. Philosophers such as Nietzsche had a negative view of oppression. Nietzsche even considered it “pathological.”
I respect the opinion that restricting one’s desires is negative. However, if you indulge your desires without limit in order to enjoy life, your life may become ruined because of those desires. That is why I personally wanted to learn how to control my emotions and desires, and I want to be like someone who can control their emotions and desires well. I want to be a person who fulfills the three conditions mentioned above, and I want to live a life like Francis.
