Stefan Zweig and, through his teachings, philosopher Julian de Medeiros, suggest that there is a path to abandon a life of worry. It is to find the middle thread between the two extremes of existence: the one extreme being that which Tolstoy deemed “to just be.” This is the level of existence where one solely exists in the world. But as Medeiros notes, this idea of life is something of a tautology. It is saying nothing and thus providing a nothing of a life. A life of just being requires no stance, no opinions, no stakes, no risk. This cannot be the life to strive for.

On the other end, Medeiros and Zweig offer the life of complete envelopment in some external ideal, likely something of a political ideal, in flux at the whims of man. One attaches almost fully to this ideal and thus both lives and dies by it. Zweig, writing in the wake of World War I and constant European turmoil, clearly viewed this way of life as invigorating compared to the being life of Tolstoy but also wholly insufficient in achieving the desired life, as it would almost inevitably lead one’s life to complete destruction at the whims of this cataclysmic, capricious, and overwhelming political ideal.

Instead, Stefan Zweig proposes a middle ground of life that one can pursue to abandon worry: the life of creation. This is the life where one makes things, writes music or stories, builds edifices or monuments. Now, up to this point in this brief essay, I have for the most part summarized a brief selection of the ideas of Zweig and Medeiros’ analysis of these ideas. However, at this point, I’d like to propose an explanation for why this middle ground can be viewed intuitively by Zweig as that zenith of existence. What alternative facets of philosophy or life can one possibly surmise to explain how this middle ground of creation is the way to pursue? I believe that explanation is free will. Even if one states that free will does not exist on a cosmic scale, just the perception of free will enables one to embrace a sense of control over one’s existence. And is not this exactly what the removal of worry entails? We worry about that which we cannot control: how will this person act, in what way will this person react to an action I take? These self-induced questions extend ad infinitum. However, if one takes the path of life to be a creator and focuses on one’s creation (creation of art, creation of family, creation of enterprise, creation of beauty), one will inevitably come to embody this sense of freedom. It is through creation that we came into being, and it is through creation that we must be.

-Charlie, July 2024