Two sincere writers should cultivate a feeling similar to that which should exist between two well-meaning political opponents: a feeling of respect and identification. In both cases, however, there are very few exceptions that outweigh the commonplace pettiness. Leaving aside superficialities such as style, schools, generations, the fact that two writers, whatever they may be, have a link that sets them apart from the rest of men, both have made an identical choice in the face of the problem of existence, and it is natural that such a distinction should become an affinity. Much more do they agree in choosing literature as a vehicle for the expression of consciousness than they differ in external aspects of the vocation. Admitting this, however, is very difficult and seems to require a virtue that few of them possess.
Category: Notes
Comfort Stimulates Inertia
Comfort stimulates inertia, and discomfort gives rise to the need for expression. This is true both individually and collectively. The great themes of every age are precisely what bothered them most. And as soon as a solution appears, either by custom or by change, we notice it by the disappearance of the theme in literature. We approach the individual and find the same thing: it is precisely from discomfort that all authentic literature is born. And if we see it this way, we cannot help but look at the difficulties from an entirely new perspective.
A Generation Never Learns From the Past
“History repeats itself” is a true statement because it is based on the absolute human incapacity, attested by each generation, to pass on the learning of its experiences. That is why civilization is always on the verge of the same collapses and revolutions as before, hostage to the same mistakes, exploited by new versions of the same weapons, subject to the same schemes of domination, the same types driven by the same ambitions. A generation never learns from the past, and what it learns from the present will have to be learned from the present again and again by the next generations.
There Is No More Thankless Task Than to Teach…
There is no more thankless task than to teach someone who does not want to learn. Learning has to start from a desire, motivated in turn by the awareness of a need. Otherwise, the teacher and the student are frustrated. All teaching should be seen as an act of generosity and, consequently, as a stimulus to gratitude. Then we would have a teacher satisfied with the work and a student aware of the importance of education. In the future, the student could find in the teaching itself the repayment of the debt he had incurred, or, in other words, teach to express gratitude. On this cycle all true education depends, and from it we note that education is fundamentally a moral problem.