Success in the world depends more on opportunities than on abilities, because the latter depend on the former to develop. And it is opportunities that not only pave the way, but also determine the greater or lesser number of obstacles, facilitating or hindering progress. To a certain extent, it is possible to create them; yet there is no shortage of examples of futile efforts and wasted abilities. After all, it is making the best of what one has, and being grateful for even the smallest of things, which always seem to be there, that has given rise to the manifestation of value.
Category: Notes
Alongside the Clichéd Exaltation…
Alongside the clichéd exaltation, there are, here and there in literature, more sober but much more genuine examples of the recognition of nature’s real, everyday, and sometimes marvelous influence on the author’s life. Some might find it strange that they are not so frequent, and others might judge them as idealistic as the former; but the fact is that, on the one hand, it takes experience and open eyes to notice it, and, on the other, one must admit that they are simply real. Sometimes, a window is enough. And the landscape, when least expected, when most needed, invades the house, invades the spirit, transforms the mood, and gives the situation a new direction. Regrettably, there are those who go through life without experiencing it; but one must be aware that such a thing is possible, and, having that awareness, there is nothing more reasonable than the effort to make it happen.
An American Education Expert Said…
An American education expert said a few months ago that a good education no longer requires the study of foreign languages, since artificial intelligence is already capable of instant translations, and that time can be put to better use in other subjects. A good command of English is sufficient, he concluded. What can we say? Much has been said about the effects of language study on intelligence; Napoleão Mendes de Almeida, in his unsurpassed Latin Grammar, argues in favor of Latin. For someone whose mother tongue is English, however, there may be nothing more relevant to his intellectual development than to learn, desesperately, as early as possible, a syntactically more complex language—even Spanish will suffice. But how to convince the expert? If he does not realize it immediately, perhaps there is no solution. His perspective must be reversed: the man of the future, the more advantages he enjoys, the more he will have to strive not to squander abilities that only focused effort can develop.
Largely Due to This Digital Culture…
Largely due to this digital culture, smart devices, information that is increasingly instantaneous and simplified, and the ubiquity of countless screens all at once, difficulties with concentration have become extremely common. The problem arises, naturally, because the modern man has less and less need to think. When the need arises, there are ways to delegate the thinking. The result is that one lives in a somewhat ethereal, unfocused state, and a multitude of impulses detrimental to concentration develop. Due to lack of practice, this ability is lost. How, then, can it be restored? As simple as the preceding diagnosis, it can be answered in a single word: by practicing it. And how? Well, through any activity that demands it, that isolates one from the environment, that is absorbing. Reading, for example; provided it arouses great interest, enough to override the distracting impulses. But to truly overcome the problem, to reacclimate the mind to the act of centering itself, to that ekagrata or one-pointedness of which the Indians speak, there may be no better solution than the old-fashioned meditation associated with the valuable and painstaking study of Latin.