I review my notes and smile at my irritations. The truth is that I consider myself, modesty aside, the ideal reader. When I open a book, the last thing I want is to get irritated with the author. I give him total freedom to say whatever he wants, to create from the absurd to the ridiculous, to break all moral barriers and more as he feels he must do in order to express what he wants. What I do not have—and I am proud of this—is a guidebook for demanding it from whoever I read. I consciously choose readings that appear contrary to what I seem to think. And yet, even with this almost limitless openness, I always end up finding someone who gets on my nerves…
Category: Notes
There Is No Vain Page in Tolstoy
I read pages and pages of Tolstoy and my mind seems to wonder, “Why so much time spent elsewhere?” The feeling is that, in Tolstoy, there is no vain page, we are always before characters who confront the essential. They confront, that is, they reason, see and judge the circumstances around them; sometimes they let themselves act unthinkingly, then they bitterly regret the psychological consequences, mulling over the past. The past! always an object of torture, an inexhaustible source of regrets… But what seems to impress most in these constructions so vivid, so full of verve and sincerity, is the meticulous insertion of details that endow them with realism, making them more than convincing. And to think of the mind that produced these thousands of golden pages… is to bow the head and take off the hat.
A Problem Is a Problem as Long as the Mind Classifies It as Such
From Lao-tze, in English translation:
Stop thinking, and end your problems.
How true! A problem is a problem as long as the mind classifies it as such—conditions and facts are cold; qualification is mental work. Once one has the problem, the consequences: anxiety, worry, conflict, psychological disturbance. Annul the mind, bridle thoughts… if there is peace possible to man, here is the way. However…
The Gruesome Details of a Black Magic Ritual
Knowing the gruesome details of a black magic ritual, one can notice without a doubt that the operator materializes his evil and repulsive will beforehand. From this, to say that the magic works is an understatement. All the difficulty of the preparation, the effort involved, the need for continuous reaffirmation of the vow, the mental focus and stimulation in favor of the malevolent objective… all this before the consummation of the terrible ritual, the voluntary act with no possible return. The conscience of the one who operates such a monstrosity dies forever; psychologically, it is a road with no return, a road that can only lead to more and more darkness, if not to madness or suicide. It is unbelievable to see how deep human nature is capable of descending, how unlimited is its potential for evil… the impulse is to spit in its face and curse endlessly at this cursed species.