My best humor—I can perhaps call it my sarcastic vein—proves to me the best precisely because it manifests itself with maximum intensity at serious moments. I know well how Cioran felt: it is an irresistible impulse! This is why, relaxed, I may not feel instigated to joke. To make good jokes, I have to be in a solemn atmosphere; then they come out as if by automatism, if not necessity. And so I realize that in these Notes, which are light, calm, almost effortless, it is very rare to find evidence of my fatal inclination to clowning. But in my “serious” lines, where I put myself in a state of full concentration, where I extract from my heart what seems to me the purest truth, where—there is no denying it…— I often get myself, exactly like Cioran, to pour pessimism, despair and disenchantment on paper, then, precisely in these moments, also like Cioran, I have the feeling that it is almost a sin to waste them as a background for a crude joke. Unfortunately, I cannot change my nature…
The Wronged Who Remain Silent
The posture of the wronged who remain silent is truly beautiful. Faced with a patent injustice, with all the reasons to rebel and fight back, he responds with silence. It seems to us, who observe him, that such an attitude is a moral lesson. This haughty stoicism, this detachment from pride and indifference to the outcome has a certain tacit grandiosity; of which exploitation or not is often the brightness or flaw of many tragedies. In life, such a spirit deserves from us nothing but respect.
There Is a Curious Vacuum…
There is a curious vacuum that follows cruel, passionate, thoughtless acts, in which man extrapolates the limits of ethics. Conscience seems to emerge questioning reasons, when it is no longer possible to undo what one has done. A vacuum is imposed, usually resulting in regret for the unnecessary excesses. The comparison with the despot who, in a fit of rage, commits an injustice as undue as it is unnecessary, is fitting. Then it is noted that, for some, such a vacuum is instructive; while, for others, it seems to legitimize immorality and foreshadow even worse excesses.
The Concrete Wall
It is always a pleasure to reflect on those moments when expectation crashes at high speed into a concrete wall, completely destroying itself. There are few moments so favorable to a fair reflection, to a sensible examination of reality as those in which the present is disappointing and the future discouraging. Perhaps this is why pessimism is, in philosophy, the most consistent posture: because when it is based on such strong and obvious experiences, it is almost irrefutable. Moments like these have the power to impose, all at once, humility and silence.