What Can a Dying Uruguayan Teach You About Life? Hint: it’s More than You Think
Introduction
Pepe Mujica is dying. Pepe Mujica has lived. The 89 year-old former “philosopher president” of Uruguay is a pivotal figure in his country’s history, having helped lead the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world’s healthiest and most socially liberal democracies. He also used to rob banks as a Robin Hood-esque leftist urban guerrilla, tunnelled his way out of two prisons, endured 13 years of captivity, including two in solitary confinement in a hole in the ground, and survived six gunshot wounds during a 1970 confrontation with the police.
Mujica’s story is astonishing, but it’s not what he’s best known for. Rather, 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.
In April of this year, Mujica, already battling an autoimmune disease, announced he would undergo radiation for a tumour in his oesophagus. He is under no illusions about the fact that his time is running short. But before he goes, he still has a great deal more to teach us on how to live a life of value.
Lessons from Pepe Mujica: Simplicity and humility
Mujica is notorious for his humble lifestyle. Despite his position as president, he chose to live on a small farm rather than the luxurious presidential palace. He recently explained that decision to The New York Times. “We have a house for the president. It’s four stories. To have tea you have to walk three blocks. Useless. They should make it a high school.” [1]
He also continued to drive an old Volkswagen Beetle, a car that became an iconic symbol of his simplicity, whilst being the most powerful figure in the land. When a wealthy Arab sheikh offered to buy the car off him for $1 million, Mujica declined, saying, “This car is part of my life. I have no intention of selling it.” [2]
The palace was not the only ostentatious aspect of presidential life that grated him. “I once went to Germany and they put me in a Mercedes-Benz. The door weighed about 3,000 kilos. They put 40 motorcycles in front and another 40 in back. I was ashamed.” [3]
Mujica’s commitment to a simple life isn’t just about personal preference; it’s a reflection of his broader philosophy. He believes that material wealth does not equate to happiness. Speaking about his nickname as ‘the poorest president’, he said, “I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle and always want more and more.” [4]
The modern world’s obsession with consumerism confounds and disappoints him. “It has generated a subliminal culture that dominates our instinct,” he says. “It’s subjective. It’s unconscious. It has made us voracious buyers. We live to buy. We work to buy. And we live to pay. Credit is a religion. So we’re kind of screwed up.” [5]
It can be hard to break from the trappings of the modern world, but it’s likely that we all have some aspects of it that we could successfully cull if we just made the effort. Mujica recommends we do. “You’re free when you escape the law of necessity,” he says, “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. Humanity needs to work less, have more free time and be more grounded. Why so much garbage? Why do you have to change your car? Change the refrigerator? There is only one life and it ends. You have to give meaning to it. Fight for happiness, not just for wealth.” [6]
He’s not unaware that these principles are out of step with modern practices. “I don’t fit in today’s world,” he told The New York Times. “You’re talking to a strange old man.” [7]
Lessons from Pepe Mujica: Embrace empathy and solidarity
Mujica’s presidency was marked by his deep sense of empathy and solidarity with the poor and marginalised. He donated about 90% of his presidential salary to charities that worked to improve the lives of the underprivileged. His policies focused on social justice, equality, and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable members of society.
One of the most powerful examples of his empathy was his decision to offer asylum to six Guantanamo Bay detainees in 2014. This move, which was highly controversial both in Uruguay and internationally, was motivated by his deep commitment to human rights. Mujica defended his decision by stating,”This is a question of human solidarity.”
Whether one agrees with the decision or not, one can respect that Mujica believed in sticking to his principles even if it was unpopular. It’s all too easy to trade values for personal gain. Authenticity and a clear, unbreachable set of principles can go a lot further.
Lessons from Pepe Mujica: Resilience and positivity
During Uruguay’s military dictatorship, Mujica was shot six times during a confrontation with the police and spent 13 years in prison, much of it in brutal conditions, namely in a small hole of solitary confinement, stripped of human contact. Mujica has spoken of the pain and difficulty of this period, during which paranoia and auditory hallucinations accelerated his torment. Still, he found a way to cope, developing mental strategies that helped pull him through. He talked to insects and animals and focused on maintaining his mental resilience. “We must learn to speak with the person inside us,” he says. “It was him who saved my life. Since I was alone for many years, that has stayed with me.” [8]
In 1985, after the dictatorship had finally ended, Mujica was released from prison. Twenty five years later he was the country’s president. His positive spirit endures to this day. Why? “Because life is beautiful. With all its ups and downs, I love life. And I’m losing it because it’s my time to leave. What meaning can we give to life? Man, compared to other animals, has the ability to find a purpose. Or not. If you don’t find it, the market will have you paying bills the rest of your life. If you find it, you will have something to live for. Those who investigate, those who play music, those who love sports, anything. Something that fills your life.” [9]
Lessons from Pepe Mujica: Foster a connection with nature
During his presidency, Mujica was a vocal advocate for environmental sustainability. He often criticised the global economic system for its destructive impact on the environment. In a speech at the United Nations, he said, “We have destroyed the real jungles and sown anonymous cement jungles. We have tackled a sedentary lifestyle with walking, insomnia with pills, solitude with electronics. Can we be happy when we are so far from the human essence?…I reiterate that what some call our planet’s ecological crisis is the result of the overwhelming triumph of human ambition. This is our triumph and our defeat, given our political impotence to fit into the new era that we have helped to build without realising it.” [10]
Mujica’s deep connection with nature has always been a central part of his life. Living on a farm with his wife, he cultivates his own vegetables and lives in harmony with the land. This connection to nature informed his environmental policies and his belief in sustainable living.
“When I’m in the field working with the tractor,” he says, “sometimes I stop to see how a little bird constructs its nest. He was born with the program. He’s already an architect. Nobody taught him. Do you know the hornero bird? They are perfect bricklayers. I admire nature. I almost have a sort of pantheism. You have to have the eyes to see it. The ants are one of the true communists out there. They are much older than us and they will outlive us. All colony beings are very strong.” [11]
Lessons from Pepe Mujica: Read and communicate (but not on your phone)
It is perhaps unsurprising that a man of such an ascetic nature has little love for the smartphone, having thrown his own away four years ago. “It made me crazy. All day talking nonsense…It’s not the phone’s fault. We’re the ones who are not ready. We make a disastrous use of it. Children walk around with a university in their pocket. That’s wonderful. However, we have advanced more in technology than in values.” [12]
He would rather we trade virtual communication for real life conversations. “Nothing replaces this,” he told The New York Times, referring to human-to-human interaction. “This is non-transferable. We’re not only speaking through words. We communicate with gestures, with our skin. Direct communication is irreplaceable.”
He laments that people so often struggle to find the time to read today. “I have one thing,” he says, “the magic of the word…The book is the greatest invention of man.” [13]
What can we learn?
Some will read Pepe Mujica’s words and philosophy and find resonance in them. Modern society is one of excess. It is virtualised, commercialised and draining on time, finances and energy. A lot of people want to get away from that, whether permanently, briefly or some middle ground. Others will see these words as hippy nonsense and socialist hooey. It’s doubtful Mujica himself would care much either way. For the extraordinary life he’s lived, when asked by the New York Times how he’d like to be remembered, his answer was characteristically simple and playful: “Ah, like what I am: a crazy old man.” [14]
More on Positivity
How Adopting a More Positive Mindset Can Transform Your Work
Optimism is a Force Multiplier
The Progress Principle: or How to Stop Worrying and Celebrate the Small Wins
Sources
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/07/uruguayan-president-jose-mujica-offered-1m-blue-beetle
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493
[10] https://speakola.com/political/jose-pepe-mujica-address-united-nations-2013
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