It has been rightly said that all that remains of a biography is the character of the biographee. And we see this especially in examples that would seem to contradict the rule: in the biography of men who have left an intellectual legacy. Of these men, who made their mark by something other than practical actions, after analyzing their lives we retain the image of what they were like in the practical world, the decisions they made, their temperament and their daily lives. We remember how they lived. We remember the libertine, the consequent, the sullen and the scoundrel. All of this teaches us a lot and establishes an inseparable link between the imaginative and the real.
The Mind Really Does Have This Tendency…
The mind really does have this tendency to get irritated by small and large disturbances, prolonging the irritation indefinitely, often planning some reactive action, imagining its consequences and facing them on an imaginary level. What does not usually occur to it is that, once forgotten, the irritation stops. But if it really wants to overcome it, if it really wants to turn it into something positive and uplifting, all it takes is to crush the endless arguments of instinctive reasoning by manifesting benevolence towards the irritable in a concrete act. As if by magic, peace of mind emerges and irritation becomes a good feeling.
It Is Always Late to Do What Could…
It is always late to do what could have been done before, but it is always possible to get rid of the weight of not having tried. There are barriers for which the justification is gratuitous: if something sounds good, let it be done! The rest will be experience and learning. The mind has a hard time freeing itself from old ties, but the years show that it never regrets it when it overcomes mental resistance and takes a chance on something new that is sincerely desired; more than that: it is acts of this kind that often go down in memory as the best decisions.
There Is No Real Satisfaction Until…
There is no real satisfaction until the mind learns to focus on the small, the accessible and the quotidian. The mind is treacherous because, with eyes closed, the act is weightless and knows no limits. If one is careless, one can easily go too far, learning nothing and doing nothing. There may be pleasure, certainly distraction, but both are diaphanous, both are devoid of the characteristic density of the real, which substantiates the small and generates true fruit.