Modern democracies have brought together all the most devious means ever invented by the human mind and have materialized a supreme and unprecedented ode to hypocrisy. This much-acclaimed system, whose criticism is inadmissible and may earn a place in jail, boils down to a tyranny that only grows stronger as the years go by. A tyranny, therefore, a legitimate system, but oppressive, unjust and cruel. The individual, who has absolutely no part in it, has to swallow it and finance it, even in the face of unacceptable abuses and absurdities, watching, gagged and with his hands tied, the perpetuation of a will that can be manipulated and is effectively manipulated by scoundrels, a will contrary to his interests. For everything that once seemed unattainable to the most shameless of tyrants, today there are sure means of execution, and so it seems that souls, more than ever, are submitted and unable to react.
Category: Notes
Having a “Cause” and Wanting to Impose It
There is a remarkable difference between having a “cause” and wanting to impose it on the rest of men. It is possible to say, at first, that this difference is character. But it can also be said that the more the feeling inspired by the “cause” is true, the more its “benefits” are clear in the mind of the one who has it, the more will be the natural impulse to want other men to have it too, or to “enjoy” it. Here, then, we come to the imposition. There is no way to interpret it, regardless of how it is practiced, or how it is founded, if not as a primary violation, a direct attack on the freedom of the individual. The imposition will never be noble, and after the tyranny has been perpetrated, those who have suffered it can no longer be called free men.
Antero Again…
It is amazing how I have been able to see Antero through his verses. I read a biography of him, and a myriad of facts not described come to me as obvious—facts that I end up confirming with the help of other biographers. Thus, I understand him completely and perfectly, from his intimate torments to his behavior; and if an Eça tells him of a “fleeting”, though “consoling” coexistence, I already know the reasons, I already deduce the mystery that hides this apparently contradictory posture. I know how Antero felt, and I know how heavy burden he carried that he could not talk about. It is touching to see him described by Eça, to see how he imposed an overwhelming victory over his inner conflicts through his personality. And finally…
Running Over Laziness
It is simply delicious the sensation we experience when, faced with a complex task that needs to be redone due to a small mistake, having our mind against us, which points out endless reasons to get rid of the new effort, we run over our laziness, redo the task and, finally, we are rewarded with a much better result than the previous one. It is curious to note how virtuous and decisive initiative is in these cases. The problem arises, everything seems to advise us to avoid the new effort; and, if we do, a long remorse follows from the failure, coming from not having done it better. On the other hand, if we take the opposite route and the result rewards us, we are seized by a mixture of relief and satisfaction. Happy is he who never gives in to laziness…