Tag: behavior

Modern man may dismiss as nonsense the advice of the advocates of long walks—a numerous group ranging from Nietzsche to Taleb—but the truth is that life changes noticeably, and for the better, when one cultivates the habit of walking. Certainly, one cannot always walk like those men, long and carefree, turning the walk into a kind of meditation in motion; however, the man who replaces traffic, public transportation, and cars with walking, allowing it and its effects to become part of his routine, instead of and in place of the inevitable wear and tear caused by those, will find that his life has become significantly better. Few things are as certain as this: moving with one’s own body, through one’s own effort, at a natural pace, every day, completely changes the mood with which one wakes up in the mornings.

The problem with relationships is that, generally speaking, what one gains from them is little compared to what one must do to sustain them; that is to say, this is true of ordinary relationships, and when this is not the case, on the rare occasions when it is not, then one has found a relationship of true value. For such a relationship, which develops and endures naturally, without the parties having to pretend or temporarily feign being something they are not, the effort made is to nurture it, ensuring it does not fade due to distance or deteriorate through trivialization. Even so, there is a risk that it will become trapped by circumstances, subject to the dynamics of life, and thus run the risk of perishing. But a single relationship of this nature is enough to completely change one’s conception of life.

These days when you wake up, unexpectedly, with a mad urge to understand everything about yourself… And then you rummage through files, books, memories, and notes; desperately search for new sources, forcing flashes of insight into what you did not perceive before. During the process, those forgotten certainties resurface in your mind, often as if they were new, though they have already been the subject of reflection. These are good days… But the knowledge one has about oneself, though it may connect and give meaning to the past, though it may guide the future, reaffirm vows, and recall decisions, can do nothing against this gigantic unknown, which leaves one’s entire existence open-ended, to be properly understood only when one no longer exists.

What is truly striking about humble people is this ability, no doubt forged by necessity, to simply live in the present, letting whatever happens, happen. They seem to know that worrying is pointless, and that it is unwise to fret over hypothetical problems, which are sometimes unfounded and sometimes unsolvable. They live in the now, whether enjoying or suffering, but experiencing what actually is. It is somewhat ironic to have to study stacks and stacks of books to arrive at such a natural solution.