Tag: philosophy

The search for identity involves, first of all, recognizing the stable element in the most disparate and distant manifestations, i.e., recognizing the cohesion that emerges during the development of the personality. Sometimes the task is not easy, and this cohesion is not identified in actions, but in a more or less manifest intention, without which what is experienced becomes confused. Identity exists, however, because the individual does not fall apart or become someone else—and finding it is always revealing.

When one really matures, as time subtracts, as responsibility increases and the past acquires weight and volume, one also acquires the ability to detach oneself from accessories until, finally, life becomes simpler. This process, however, depends on the ability to understand and see oneself proportionally in the panorama of existence, something that naturally results in a fair sizing up, without exaggeration or too much modesty, of what one can and should do.

It is traditional of Indian wisdom to insistently reinforce the importance of the present, given that the mind reaps regret from the past and apprehension from the future. Therefore, it seems objectively impossible to have a peace that is not summed up in a serene and consenting immersion in the now, an immersion that is self-satisfied. But oh, how difficult it is! That minimum that is missing, that wanting that is not much but is placed in a hypothetical future, that real, full, recognized happiness that requires little but is distanced from the moment, all of this is certainly the burial of peace. And the affliction that arises from this realization, or rather from this attitude, is one of those that cannot be overcome, because one cannot speed up time, nor live the future in the present. So, no matter how difficult it may seem, and no matter how repetitive the sages of old India may seem at times, the truth is just that: what there is is simply now.

Life seems to have a mechanics which, at least for he who does not lie to himself in the depths of his conscience, repeatedly shuts down his pride and reveals his smallness. And if this seems to be a constant, the reactions vary drastically: some grow stronger, more aware and humbler, sprinkling their will with a salutary modesty; others, unfortunately, fall into an invincible, destructive and paralyzing disgust. This is perhaps why St. Augustine says that pride is the root of all weaknesses, because pride, if it does not give in to the reality imposed by life, in itself only produces destruction.