Tag: behavior

Whenever we witness the collapse of our imaginary foundations, we emerge from the experience convinced that those could not have been foundations, and that reality has persisted. Reality, incidentally, always persists: no catastrophe has ever affected it. We never seem to truly learn this, but it is wise to return again and again to the realization that stability is impossible, that to yearn for it is to desire a reality that does not exist, and is to foster disappointment and a sense of inadequacy. It does us good to listen to Epictetus, to get used to wearing a serene smile, giving thanks for what we have been given and blessing what has “returned.”

The greatest misfortune of politics is that politicians do not love the country they serve. Instead, they love power. This creates an essentially confrontational environment in which adversaries can only find common ground by acting against the common good. Consequently, constructive dialogue and a shared long-term vision become impossible: one is always, first, against the other; then, against everyone else. Ideologies are of little consequence in the face of this absent love, without which nothing good can be expected.

It is very rare to find a public figure who does not appear intoxicated by his position, truly believing that he can influence, alter, control, determine, and lead. To understand the significance of this state, one need only contrast it with that of the religious man, whose faith is usually the result of a more or less lengthy process that begins with the realization of complete powerlessness in the face of creation. Before moving even a speck of dust, he is aware that his action will never have more than a very limited scope, and will be good only if it conforms to a will that transcends his own. That first man lives in isolation and delusion, ignores the world, and stirs up the worst in his nature—but the day comes when nature teaches him a lesson.

The irony is that getting it right often requires taking missteps, and success in any endeavor usually comes after a series of failures. Hence, when one finally achieves what one set out to do, the path taken seems to be nothing but a path of error, and the person who now gets it right does not seem to identify with that other person who was simply trying to get it right. The teacher, therefore, often carries baggage that contradicts his teaching, and must smile at the realization that it is precisely because he went against it that he learned what he can now teach.