The most frustrating problems are those whose understanding is insufficient to solve them. They are the ones one must deal with for a prolonged period, and even if their mechanism is perfectly understandable, even if their solution is crystal clear, one cannot overcome them because one lacks the means to do so. Hence, each time they arise, it feels like a blow to the mind, a painful, exasperating blow that must be endured in silence, since reacting is futile and only increases the irritation. The worst part of such problems is that they seem unjustifiable the moment after they are understood; that is to say, what needed to be taught has already been taught; yet even so, out of sheer stubbornness, they insist on not going away.
Category: Notes
It Is Difficult to Gauge Just How Useful…
It is difficult to gauge just how useful it can be to master at least one of these great symbolic systems, so that one’s reasoning naturally tends to find connections between reality and the myriad of traditional symbolic interpretations. Such correspondences are inexhaustible and greatly deepen one’s understanding of reality. A simple event, therefore, takes on a broader meaning for the mind. And one gains from this even when not consciously trying to interpret it, since a mind trained in this way will always be inclined to go beyond the superficial layer of meaning.
To a Certain Extent, One Does Not Choose…
To a certain extent, one does not choose the feelings that will arise in relation to one’s environment, because one does not choose the circumstances into which one is born, nor does one choose most of the defining events that the environment will produce over the course of a lifetime. Thus, affection and aversion, patriotism and anti-patriotism, a sense of belonging and alienation arise naturally. But all these feelings, if not understood, bear poor fruit. A conscious effort is needed to always relate them to the personal transformations one experiences, viewing them as the extremely important catalysts that they are. Such transformations sometimes run counter to the nature of that initial feeling; but they all teach something, and one must cultivate a positive attitude toward them all.
To Imagine That There Was a Carpeaux…
To imagine that there was a Carpeaux before the invention of the computer gives one pause. An active reader, over the course of a decade, produces thousands upon thousands of notes. Three or four decades of study, therefore, amount to a volume that no human mind is capable of comprehending, unless one engages in a constant process of rereading and reorganization, a process that never ends because there are always old notes to revisit, and there are always new ideas and new connections to be made through this revisitation. A computer, if used wisely, makes research tremendously easier: a task that might take an hour is sometimes reduced to minutes. Even so, it seems almost impossible to match the feat of those ancient scholars, whose notes were tucked away in their own thick tomes—something that, today, sends a shiver down one’s spine.