For those of a similar disposition, days spent like Bernardo Soares are so satisfying that it is impossible not to long for days that are always like this. From that longing, however, springs the seed of sorrow, since it is not possible to have them always. Sometimes, it is not even possible to have them. And when one allows the absence to linger, the mind, recalling the indescribable sensation of that fertile, creative, imaginative placidity, laments the impossibility of producing it at will. Action is required. But may Mr. Bernardo be eternally blessed for having taught us a sure path to satisfaction!
Tag: literature
Elon Musk Continues to Encourage Me…
Elon Musk continues to encourage me weekly to do something crazy. According to him, my future is already guaranteed, my life is already won. “Don’t worry about money,” the multi-billionaire advises me. And I, emotionally wanting to convince myself, go over examples in my mind ranging from Fernando Pessoa to the renunciants of India, from Taleb to St. Francis of Assisi. Everything converges on the unreasonable act that, my own mind now tells me, if it proves to be unreasonable, will at least be courageous, stimulating, or, in the worst-case scenario, unique. “I’m going to go for it!,” I say to myself, knowing that I won’t be able to do it. Imagining how big the pile of my insignificant bills still to be paid would be, I can only smile at Elon Musk.
The Same Organizing Impulse That…
The same organizing impulse that drives the philosopher has an important, but different, weight for the poet. This impulse outlines, structures, organizes, and makes a poetic work comprehensible and justified; it enhances its effect by filling the verses with meaning, putting everything in its place within the whole. However, a poetic work often needs explosions that amplify the effect of the previous and subsequent harmony, beyond its most obvious expressive effects. For the brief period in which they occur, order must sometimes be suspended, chaos must be allowed; otherwise, the rapture is not complete. Allowing it repeatedly, one realizes that, after all, it is such raptures that leave the greatest mark on a poetic work; therefore, the most memorable are the brief moments when there was a break with what was theoretically intended.
Suffering Gives Weight to Words
From Lavelle:
D’abord, la douleur n’est pas seulement une simple privation d’être, ou diminution d’être. Il y a en elle un élément positif qui s’incorpore à notre vie et qui la change. Chacun de nous ne songe sans doute qu’à rejeter la douleur au moment où elle l’assaille ; mais quand il fait un retour sur sa vie passée, alors il s’aperçoit que ce sont les douleurs qu’il a éprouvées qui ont exercé sur lui l’action la plus grande ; elles l’ont marqué : elles ont donné à sa vie son sérieux et sa profondeur ; c’est d’elles aussi qu’il a tiré sur le monde où il est appelé à vivre et sur la signification de sa destinée les enseignements les plus essentiels.
Here, Dostoyevsky’s alleged statement that, in order to write well, one must suffer, is justified. Suffering gives weight to words; its experience shapes character and understanding. When experienced intimately, it imposes itself. Therefore, it is not necessary for the reader to have similar experiences to appreciate a work of art: from the human condition exposed with authenticity because it is authentically lived, respect springs forth, which opens the door to identification.