Tag: philosophy

We must go back and back to the Dhammapada, to always remember that peace is the enemy of desire, and that pleasures of any kind hide a poisonous background that the wise must avoid. The world drives them, which is why it is necessary to be an enemy of the world. To give in, aware of this infallible dynamic, is to turn life into an incalculably torturous experience.

By Leopardi:

Chi ha disperato di se stesso, o per qualunque ragione, si ama meno vivamente, è meno invidioso, odia meno i suoi simili, ed è quindi più suscettibile di amicizia per questa parte, o almeno in minor contraddizione con lei. Chi più si ama meno può amare.

In fact, every virtuous relationship that can exist between two human beings is based on what goes against self-love, that is, modesty, benevolence and selflessness. Without these virtues, there is nothing to be done, and relationships will never be anything more than a terrain of interests and disputes in which those involved gain far less than they can imagine.

It is true that study often uncovers the complexity of subjects that the average man does not even suspect are complex. This discovery, however, although it may rightly call for caution, should never have a paralyzing effect on the mind, which will ultimately have to decide. The same skepticism used by some as an inductive tool for the best choice is used by others as a shield—a very effective one—for an innate inability to choose.

There is always something very positive about these extreme and unavoidable situations that force a decision to be made. First of all, they reveal courage and cowardice in the face of the need to decide; then, and above all, the priorities, which if they were masked before for whatever reason, can now no longer be camouflaged, and the previous cunning or indecision suddenly disappear, taking the place of an unequivocal and unavoidable choice that is imposed, foreshadowing the consequences it will entail.