How to Be Truly Free: Lessons From a Philosopher President
By Jack Nicas
A decade ago, the world had a brief fascination with José Mujica. He was the folksy president of Uruguay who had shunned his nation’s presidential palace to live in a tiny tin-roof home with his wife and three-legged dog.
In speeches to world leaders, interviews with foreign journalists and documentaries on Netflix, Pepe Mujica, as he is universally known, shared countless tales from a life story fit for film. He had robbed banks as a leftist urban guerrilla; survived 15 years as a prisoner, including by befriending a frog while kept in a hole in the ground; and helped lead the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world’s healthiest and most socially liberal democracies. But Mr. Mujica’s legacy will be more than his colorful history and commitment to austerity. He became one of Latin America’s most influential and important figures in large part for his plain-spoken philosophy on the path to a better society and happier life.
Now, as Mr. Mujica puts it, he is fighting death. In April, he announced he would undergo radiation for a tumor in his esophagus. At 89 and already diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, he admitted the path to recovery would be arduous.
Mujica: I think that humanity, as it’s going, is doomed.
Q: Why do you say that?
Mujica: We waste a lot of time uselessly. We can live more peacefully. Take Uruguay. Uruguay has 3.5 million people. It imports 27 million pairs of shoes. We make garbage and work in pain. For what?
You’re free when you escape the law of necessity — when you spend the time of your life on what you desire. If your needs multiply, you spend your life covering those needs.
Humans can create infinite needs. The market dominates us, and it robs us of our lives...
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
Mujica: Ah, like what I am: a crazy old man.
Q: That’s all? You did a lot.
Mujica: I have one thing. The magic of the word. The book is the greatest invention of man. It’s a shame that people read so little. They don’t have time.
Q: Nowadays people do much of their reading on phones.
Mujica: Four years ago, I threw mine away. It made me crazy. All day talking nonsense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/world/americas/pepe-mujica-uruguay-president.html
https://dnyuz.com/2024/08/23/how-to-be-truly-free-lessons-from-a-philosopher-president/