Man is a person, and the laws of nature are impersonal. Man is a cell in a social organism, and the laws of nature are rational formulas.

"When a robber attacks you, will you be concerned with science and the laws of nature, or will you save yourself by fighting, by fleeing, or by something else?"

"But," they objected to me, "the better armed you are, the easier it will be for you to fight the robber." And to be well armed, you need to know the laws of nature. How can you make a revolver without mechanics?

"But I am not saying that knowledge of the laws of nature is unnecessary or useless. I am only saying that this is not the highest wisdom of life.

"Good. But do you need to defend yourself from a robber? "I must.

"And the revolver will come in handy?"

"And a revolver will come in handy. "But a revolver requires engineers and technicians, that is, science and knowledge of the laws of nature, don't you?"

"I don't mind it at all. Then I will ask you: do you need to shoot from a revolver? Do you need to aim? Do you have to pull the trigger? It is not the revolver itself that will shoot you. Do you need to know who to shoot at? And do you need to figure out when, where and how, and most importantly, who exactly to shoot at?

— Of course, all this is necessary. But the revolver is made on the basis of scientific knowledge of the laws of nature.

"Yes, the revolver is made on the basis of knowledge of the laws of nature. But as long as the revolver is not used, it is not something social. It is, of course, something social, if only because it is a product of labour, a product of human production. But as such, taken out of all use, it has not yet entered social life. Only by becoming a tool in human hands for certain goals corresponding to its purpose, it revealed its social significance. And these are no longer the laws of nature. Social life and creativity, social life and struggle are not dead and rational laws of nature. And knowledge of life, orientation in it, even a simple weapon of fire, to say nothing of social life in all its breadth and depth, is no longer only thinking, is no longer only knowledge of the laws of nature! This knowledge is only a theory. And where is the practice? Practice is needed!

Yes, practice is necessary. But what kind of practice? One practice is not enough if you are looking for the wisdom of life.

* * *

Practice! Action! Not cognition, but action, they say. Not the laws of nature, but the laws of behavior! Morality, ethics, obligations, duty, conscience — these are what others slipped to me when I was looking for the wisdom of life.