Category: Notes

There is something marvelous about these very frequent flashes experienced in the immediate vicinity of death, which spring up as if clarifying the whole life, accompanied by an unprecedented lucidity—unprecedented, just before dying! Rationalizing the phenomenon is pointless, but surely something is happening when the events of a lifetime are finally closed, when they can be connected now that they have taken place, and a final meaning can be inferred. Even the outside observer can see that; but to experience it and feel it, that untranslatable something that transforms and convinces, that pacifies and enlightens, it is a pity that, if it is delayed, in others we can only admire it…

Carrying a doubt for years is a virtue that few possess, and that very few learn to cultivate. And it seems that without it, a true intellectual is not formed. Doubt is an oscillation and also an opening, which is why it differs from certainty, which usually leads to the question being closed. If sustained by a sincere interest, doubt stimulates, and the resulting activity is sometimes more beneficial than finding a possible solution. Dialectical confrontation is the basis of any valuable knowledge; and it seems that, strangely enough, the extension of the former places great value on what can be known.

It is surprising to note that the question of immortality is almost never addressed in the bulk of what is called speculative philosophy. To learn about it, one has to turn to specific works, even though the problem is fundamental to any understanding of existence. In other words: its mere possibility transforms the nature of reality, which speculative philosophy aims to investigate. Without addressing it, without even considering it, a philosophy is mutilated, if not lacking a real foundation. Turning one’s back on the unknown out of alleged prudence is certainly one of the greatest imprudences a philosopher can commit.