My rebellious fingers are itching after contact with Thomas Carlyle’s lectures. They want to answer him, they want to because they want to—but they will not. I regret to tell the slaves to control and content themselves with the brief irony they have already been allowed. Thomas Carlyle, indeed, is a remarkable and instructive intelligence; the interpretation of his “heroes” has much to add. I do not know why, analyzing him brings me Chesterton to mind: perhaps because both deserve, despite their patent incompatibility with me, my sincere handshake.
Category: Notes
Nelson Rodrigues’ Way of Constructing Prose
Nelson Rodrigues’ way of constructing prose is curious. Whether in novels, short stories or even chronicles, it is clear his obsession with framing the text within a predefined aesthetic—he acts in prose as poets do in verse. The flow of his narratives almost always follows a protocol, and the result is a pronounced and unmistakable style. There was a time when I thought standardization was essential to great style. Today I see it a little differently. I admire regular constructions, but I believe I prefer variety: speed one day; the next slowness, a lingering cadence, commas instead of periods. Styles, formats, measures, not static dynamism or terminating sluggishness. What is difficult, however, is to identify masters in multiple styles, capable of satisfying, in a single work, the cravings of who is accustomed to finding comfort by shifting of shelves.
An Honorable Man, Aware of His Own Dignity
An honorable man, aware of his own dignity, if convinced politely and respectfully that a certain action is good and just, will willingly perform it, and be grateful for the advice. If, on the other hand, this same honorable man is ordered to perform a certain action under threat of punishment, he will react by instinct, driven by his own honor, in a manner contrary to the disrespectful one who threatened him. From this the natural conclusion: orders and threats are offenses to anyone who has a sense of dignity.
Old Age, Disease and Death…
Old age, disease, and death; old age, disease, and death: the obsessions that paved the Buddha’s path to “enlightenment.” More than open eyes, it takes courage to confront them. Buddha understood that thought is worth nothing if it does not incur in action: from reasoning, he drew philosophy, and philosophy guided his conduct. Old age, disease, and death: everything that lives is condemned to torment, exhaustion, and suppression. The mind always wants to deceive itself; so let it suffer, let it daily embitter the conclusions of its judgment, until it has all to the last illusion torn from it! And thus, teaches the shrewd and enlightened psychologist, one escapes from the evil cycle that always results in suffering and destruction.