Totalitarianisms are not political ideologies, but collusions of psychopaths who aim at a power only achieved through the massive destruction of conscience. That is why they target, above all and with the utmost violence, human dignity, that through which it manifests itself and that which it feeds on. So they only pass in a corrupted society whose individuals have completely abdicated their own worth. Dignity will never hesitate between totalitarianism and jail, between that and the firing squad. However, it should be noted that, except in rare cases, it is not allowed to choose between these options. Dignity most often vanishes as totalitarianism advances, and this, cunning that it is, does so gradually, through small spoils, small abuses, in such a way as not to make it appear that it is slowly imposing itself. One step at a time and, with each success, a new step forward. So, in truth, this is a war waged by the individual in small battles, small choices, whose only result that really matters to him—the one over which he has control—is to corrupt himself or not.
Category: Notes
The Communist Experiment
Despite all the extensive documentation about the horror of the communist experiment on earth, a horror so absolute that it is almost impossible to carry out an extensive investigation into the subject, since to investigate it is to come across endless accounts of deprivation, misery, torture, moral corruption and annihilation as varied as the human imagination, it is unbelievable to note that the word communism not only fails to arouse the appropriate terror, but is innocuous to many and seductive to others. This fact is such a shattering exclamation that it must be evidence of a profound lesson. On a collective level, communism amounted to carnage that raised misery to an unprecedented level; on an individual level, it amounted to degradation. In this deplorable experiment, what we saw was the flowering of the most treacherous and savage things, the unbridled expansion of cruelty and oppression; the average individual was subjected to a life of misery and involuntary deprivation, booty, psychological torture at inconceivable levels, so that their very survival became conditional on submission. Incessant shootings, without reason or pity, but which, given the general scenario, seemed more like a release for those shot… And all this, although massively recorded, although alongside an endless obituary, seems pointless. There is only one lesson to be learned: man is absolutely incapable of learning.
The Morning Is the Most Important Time of the Day
The morning is the most important time of the day. Productive or unproductive, happy or unhappy, its effects are contagious and spread throughout the following hours, evidence that a day is won in the morning. Therefore, it is prudent to accomplish the most important task of the day during this period, overcoming it as soon as possible so that the afternoon is infected with this satisfaction. To do otherwise is to act against oneself: by postponing the most important task, anxiety is generated; to accomplish it at the end of the day is to allow the fatigue of the day, if it does not encourage further postponement, to impair its accomplishment. Two hundred other reasons recommend the early hours of the day as the time when activities requiring the greatest concentration should be carried out, and so perhaps the greatest secret of a stimulating and satisfying routine is to make good use of the morning.
The Best Solution to Overcome…
Undoubtedly, the best solution to overcome the very painful work of revision is that of Fernando Pessoa: never revise anything, and never set the task of giving a definitive form to what one has written. So obvious, so evident… and yet it seems the most foolish of decisions. If every profession has its hardships, some of which can only be endured in the long term by those who have the vocation to exercise it, perhaps none is more frequent for the writer than to come across a bad piece of work. Unlike other professions, in which the results and effectiveness of the work are easily measurable, and therefore it is easier to perceive an evolution in technique and the positive effects of experience, the work of the writer seems always fated to be seen as unsatisfactory by his own lenses, something that becomes violently evident in the revision process. Revising long texts, one learns that the most elementary errors in writing are invincible because, among other various reasons, attention never remains constant over a long period. And so, for his psychological satisfaction, it is best for the writer never to revise; otherwise, he will be forced to regularly take very hard lessons.