Tag: behavior

Since most of our time is always devoted to trivial matters, it should be easier to convince our minds of the need to try to imbue them with meaning. If only! What happens most often is that we see them all as nuisances, as boundless nonsense that erodes our time and motivation. In short, true existence seems to be limited to those rare moments when reason grasps the importance of what one is doing—and this, certainly, cannot be allowed to remain as it is.

Above all, it is essential to banish the possibility of despair and shield oneself in advance against this undesirable and potentially fatal trap. And then to learn to deal with guilt, death, discouragement, and suffering, always seeking to draw something good from them. Misfortune, as has been said, often comes in pairs; but it also opens a door, and it will always be that way.

Anyone who lacks the desire for agreement, nor strives to prove others wrong and himself right, is bound to be an outsider. Such an individual will never adapt to any environment, though he may participate superficially in any of them. Identification, however, is impossible for him, and no one will be able to see in him a kindred spirit. Such impulses are components of normal human relationships: they unite and separate, but ultimately they categorize; to lack them is to shield oneself from any connection.

It is very difficult to imagine an atheist who has been so unfortunate as to have never, in his entire life, encountered an example of exemplary virtue. For, undoubtedly, it is one thing to perform an isolated act, and quite another to have virtue so deeply ingrained in one’s very nature that the act occurs frequently, spontaneously, and without reflection. And if there is one thing that experience demonstrates, it is that such natures are always linked to religion. Hence, if the atheist is at all sincere, he is forced to ask himself whether religion does not, to some extent, determine the capability to exemplify virtue through one’s personality. And if he admits that he would like to possess at least a little of what abounds in such examples, he will undergo an existential crisis. Unfortunately, no matter how much he may want to, he will not be able to change the lessons that experience has taught him.