Many are the examples of beautiful works that were only started late, but it is rare to find a great writer who did not venture into writing long before he was able to produce something worthwhile. In fact, to be able to do this is precisely to practice until mastery is acquired, to experiment, make mistakes and learn. What is not acquired through this is the baggage of study and experience; but through this, and only through this, is acquired the ability to write well.
The Modern Mind, Which Mistakenly Believes…
The modern mind, which mistakenly believes or at least behaves as if the natural purpose of human life were the pursuit of pleasure, cannot understand how a life oriented in this way leads to the opposite result. It cannot understand how, invariably, such a practice leads to little pleasure and a lot of emptiness; nor how, from the emptiness, comes a despairing frustration. As unpleasant as responsibility may seem, the life around it seems oriented to the modern mind. But responsibility, more lasting and productive, provides a sense of continuity, satisfaction and value that pleasure of any kind can never offer.
Of All the Characteristics of the Modern Intellectual…
Of all the characteristics of the modern intellectual, as conceived by Paul Johnson, perhaps none causes more strangeness—or is it shame?—than this inordinate vanity, which is not limited to the high concept that the intellectual has of himself, but pretends to be an innate debt that others owe him. What is there to say? There are no words for this pretension, well illustrated by the amusing “begging letters”. There is nothing unusual about the affliction caused by the lack of means, which generates a feeling of injustice, as experienced by Raskólnikov. But at least he acts; even if recklessly, he seeks through his own actions what he thinks he deserves. A delirium, it is true, but the use of force denotes an awareness of the ineffectiveness of the argument, of the nonsense that would be trying to convince someone of a debt because of his superiority. This is such a detachment from reality that it can only go back to the most elementary questions of raising…
Despite Seeming Non-Existent Today…
Despite seeming non-existent today after decades of systematic and vehement relativization, common sense remains the most solid moral beacon for ordinary man. It is not the law that guides him, it is not the law that he thinks about when he acts or refrains from acting. If he does not kill, if he does not steal, it is because common sense prescribes it, whether or not there is a law. The effect of the law, moreover, thanks to the modern state, is to always make him more or less of an infringer. In other words: if the law does not correspond to common sense, it cannot be seen as fair, and its effect can never be educational, as it is theoretically intended to be. And the most curious thing about all this is that the day will come when someone will have to notice it, will have to notice the failure of modern law in the face of age-old common sense. And then, if it is to be legally transcribed, it will no longer be possible—unless religion is admitted once again.