It is certainly necessary to see, or at least try to see, existence as a script that is being written in chapters laden with meaning, connected to a whole whose ultimate significance can only be surmised. However, as soon as one does so, one will see that the planned script does not unfold according to plan, and that, with luck, one can only manage to preserve a little of its general direction. And that is when one must reluctantly accept all sorts of obstacles and detours that may seem illogical, useless, or nothing more than unpleasant. Through them, however, one learns humility and patience. And these virtues, when they bear fruit after decades of practice, instill the certainty that there was never any reason to curse.
Category: Notes
Some Habits Are Immune to Mental Condemnation…
Some habits are immune to mental condemnation, and no matter how much they are avoided, they remain there, latent, as a tendency that will manifest itself at the first opportunity. In such cases, there is no way to uproot them except through an abrupt and violent act, which usually does not occur unless motivated by intense distress. Thus, it ends up being necessary, and beneficial, to endure all the corruption stemming from them, to the point where the wear and tear is so great, the revulsion so intense, that reason, thoroughly exasperated and incensed, finds the strength needed to say “never again.”
It Is a Rather Silly Notion That…
It is a rather silly notion that, with each new poem, the author must “invent” something new. And it goes hand in hand with this other idea that the greatest poet is the one who has employed the greatest number of formulas, who has explored the widest range of compositional possibilities, who, in short, “has not repeated himself.” That is why versification manuals, after a certain point, begin to grow tiresome. The same is true of treatises on stylistics. There comes a point where the essential seems long since surpassed, and the text begins to dwell on the irrelevant. The student is left with the feeling that his noble interest is being trivialized, and that art itself is of little value.
Confession Is Effective Because It Instantly…
Confession is effective because it instantly eradicates self-deception, halting the endless succession of consequences that would surely follow from it. It effectively makes a fresh start possible, free from the pernicious tendencies that, in order to manifest themselves again, would require a new decision. Verbalizing the fault solidifies the acknowledgment and the desire for amendment; the act of expressing it outwardly literally brings it out into the open and thus undeniably achieves its intended purpose. All of this is something the intellect can already perceive even before the experience.