Someone like Nietzsche can only be appreciated by independent spirits; spirits, if not fond of original thought, free enough to detach themselves from the psychological and moral chains of their time. These are rare, very rare, and for this reason the irruption of a Nietzsche is like the explosion of a bomb, generating mass scandal and repulsion. The prevailing thought is always dictated by captive minds of the fifth category, minds that are horrified by the original. And the curious thing is to note that time, which overcomes everything and transforms everything, seems powerless to alter this distinctive feature of every civilization.
“No Man Is an Island”
Someone said, under applause, “no man is an island”. Very beautiful, very beautiful… But, unfortunately, the statement is false: there are, yes, island-men—and the most diverse. It is true: there is an impulse in man that drives him to social interaction; an impulse, however, that can be annihilated with time. The years go by, personalities consolidate, interests separate rather than unite—sometimes opening an impassable vacuum between man and his environment. It is not correct to say that there is a sense of belonging common to all men, just as it is not correct to assume that all men find affinities. Thus, it is natural that there are men who become islands, either by force or by volition. There are those who, out of defense, wear a social mask—although accessible, they are in essence impenetrable islands;—there are also those whose outward appearance leaves no room for doubt. Finally, in order not to be an island, it is enough not to repress the very natural gregarious impulse; but this, at a given moment, is only one of the possible choices…
Buddhism Is Probably Right…
Buddhism is probably right in saying that there are conscious states we pass through before birth: the evidence for this is the lucid manifestation of all babies immediately after their first breath. If they are not born inheriting the consciousness of a previous state, it may be that newborns are visionaries, and this justifies their being born crying, screaming, desperate, as if they saw the beginning of a path of afflictions and torments. It is impressive to note their wisdom and knowledge of this earth. However, after a few years of training, they completely lose their lucidness…
An Effect That Is Difficult to Match
Metrics and, especially, rhythmic regularity deliver an effect that is difficult to match through other expressive resources in poetry. They both seem to stroke and fulfill the demands of the brain as it concentrates on unraveling the meaning of the words and interpreting the syntactical variations of the verses. In regular poetry, small rhythmic variations, drawing attention to themselves, sometimes succeed in emphasizing words and enhancing the expressiveness of some passages in the poem; however, when the rhythmic pattern is ostensibly broken, the disturbance caused seems to divert the mind’s attention from what it should concentrate on—the effect, in short, is aesthetically unpleasant. The rhythm, once grasped, generates an expectation for its continuity—and it is difficult to satisfy the brain by denying what it seems to ask.