I go through Ignatius of Loyola’s Exercicios espirituales and I cannot help but imagine him composing them in the incredibly miserable conditions described in his biography. The comparison with Frankl is inevitable. If we confront the tenor of these lines, or rather, if we consider these lines as originating in the circumstances surrounding the author, we find an unbreakable psychological strength capable of almost superhuman feats. Finally, we see a method in the conscious effort to give meaning to the miseries experienced, in the continuous affirmation of a vow, in the overcoming of limits, in the transformation of the mind into an indestructible fortress. These Exercicios attest to Ignatius’ absolute victory over his surroundings and himself. Admirable lines!
Category: Notes
The Biography of Ignatius of Loyola
The biography of Ignatius of Loyola seems fictitious. To read it in this century, to read it in the West, observing what the West has become, its great cities, its concerns, is like putting oneself in front of an absurd narrative. It is amazing the simplicity with which stupefying facts are presented in this “Autobiography”, written by Father Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, who limited himself to transcribing what he heard from the mouth of Ignatius. A few times, we read that Ignatius risked his life during his trajectory, but the impression we get is that, since he left his father’s house, he was always under constant threat. Imprisonment, trials, persecution, sickness, incredible poverty… it is hard to imagine harsher conditions for this man reputed to be a saint. The mere fact that he passed the sixth decade of his life, as he did, already seems to us, unaccustomed men, a true miracle.
A Work That Does Not Sketch…
A work that does not sketch, that does not risk solutions to the problems it proposes, seems incomplete. It is inevitable… The high spirit must strive to surpass itself, must dare even if it fails, even if it feels the effort is useless after the battle. This is the only way to use judgment as a stimulating apparatus, as a delineator of barriers to be overcome, as a challenger of the limits of the will. Exposing problems, therefore, seems only the initial milestone of an intellectual path that unfolds from them.
Victor Hugo’s Fecundity
It seems an affront, an insult to find Victor Hugo having composed more than one hundred and fifty thousand verses in just one life. One hundred and fifty thousand! It is unbelievable, a real humiliation to be confronted with this unattainable fecundity, this poetic monument coming from the pen of a single man. If we exercise mathematics, we arrive at an average daily production that only seems reasonable to someone who spends his entire life only sleeping and composing verses. Considering the whole creative process that involves ideation, planning, structuring, realization and refinement; considering that a normal mind is exhausted in the tiresome work of hooking words in the dictionary, and that therefore a long working day is unfeasible, discouraging and even counterproductive, how to justify Victor Hugo? How can we accept his poetic work, knowing that there are plays, novels, essays under the same signature? It is amazing…