The noblest function of humor is to appear as a defense and a relief when despair seems inevitable. This is proven by countless biographies, such as that of Polish lieutenant Slavomir Rawicz, who was arrested and taken to Siberia by the Soviets. It is moving to see him speak with the utmost gratitude of the prisoners who, in the midst of misery, anguish and fatigue, were able to crack a joke. It does not sound like much. But there, laughter was like a miracle, invigorating and purifying. Perhaps true humor only manifests itself in the moments of greatest tension; at least, that’s when it definitely proves its worth.
Category: Notes
Perhaps the Most Common Element…
Perhaps the most common element in frustrated biographies of talented men is the inability to stop an undesirable course of events, the inability to go against what is convenient for the sake of one’s own affirmation. In this, they end up wasting themselves. Talent is not accompanied by responsibility for it, and this, if not developed and cultivated, will cause the great possibilities to be dispersed in a great lament.
There Are Authors With Truly Impressive…
There are authors with truly impressive powers of assimilation, and we realize that they often cannot define whether the ideas they express are their own or come from the references they reveal. Of course, there is some foundation for true learning. In order for an idea to be grasped, it has to be felt as one’s own, even if it is later abandoned. Ideally, however, the greatest intellectual will be the one who encompasses everything and absorbs everything; thus, since nothing is foreign to him, he is able to express everything as his own.
If It Were Possible to Realize…
If it were possible to realize, whenever something is lost, what is necessarily gained by losing it, life would be viewed very differently. Firstly, because possessions weigh down, consume and bind: the sadness of losing them would be compensated by the awareness of liberation. But, above all, because to understand this ambiguity, sometimes veiled but omnipresent, is to situate oneself much better in a reality that simultaneously deprives and enables, while always leaving room for strengthening and affirmation.