During the routine, it is difficult to remember the exceptional. To remember it, the mind seems to require silence and solitude. So it easily forgets it, and if it does not make a daily effort to preserve its image, it only becomes aware of it in unexpected, detached, disconnected moments, wasting the bulk of the benefits of its perception. But it is fortunate that the memory comes back and generates a new surprise: in this way the hope is renewed that, this time, it will not be allowed to fade away.
For the Spirit, There Is No Stagnation…
For the spirit, there is no stagnation: it either evolves or deteriorates, without even realizing it. And nothing seems to harm it more effectively than the past, when one does not learn to overcome it. There are endless examples of those who, if they have not stopped in time, will not let go of something that has already passed. This is why the spirit becomes detached from reality and the result is degeneration. There are experiences whose intensity, never relived, seems to determine the being. However, since life is movement, “determination” always has repercussions, whether for good or ill.
It Is Said That the Poet Merejkovsky…
It is said that the poet Merejkovsky, at the age of fifteen, asked Dostoevsky for an opinion on the quality of his first verses. After judging them to be worthless, the experienced novelist justified himself by saying that in order to write well, one has to suffer. Suffer! Of course, there is a lot of truth in this statement: nothing important can be understood before a good dose of suffering, and therefore nothing important can be expressed. But the curious thing is to see that in the hardships, exactly in them, a spark springs up as a response to the circumstantial challenge. The mind, affected, suffers and needs to overcome the situation. Then it has to understand it, scale it, absorb it. The effort ultimately enhances it. Suffering leaves a mark, and the result brings a lesson. It is by experiencing it several times that the writer is able to have something authentic to say.
The Sense of Duty Is, as Long as It Is Put Into Practice…
The sense of duty is, as long as it is put into practice, the most efficient fuel for a satisfying life. Beyond this, however, it is worth highlighting the splendid effects experienced by those who keep the desire to learn burning throughout their lives. It does not matter at what age, it is enough to feel it and the days dawn differently, one wakes up with a different motivation. And the whole process of learning, with its small progress, overcoming difficulties, broadening the horizon of study, makes the days more stimulating and generates the expectation of tomorrow. Similar satisfaction, so long-lasting and so healthy, may not be found in any other way.