Tag: philosophy

All truly serious study must have a personal purpose. The student, therefore, must first of all be able to define what he is looking for in the study, and how he expects it to impact his intellectual trajectory. This is equivalent to saying that serious study must be based on a genuine, personal interest, the greater the distance from which, the more useless the result of the study itself. It is true that one cannot predict how fruitful it will be, nor what paths it will lead to, because, in short, these will be part of the answers that will come to what one is looking for; but, in short, when one is not looking for anything, one cannot evaluate what one has achieved.

Nothing replaces the benefits of continuous, slow and prolonged work, which requires daily effort but is not completed in just one session. The qualities extracted from this practice soften expectations and solidify character. In short, discipline and patience are cultivated, virtues that together raise the spirit to another level.

The beginner praises easily and hardly criticizes. This is because praise is more in line with his admiration of something that, if he understands it, he feels is still unattainable for him; criticism, on the other hand, requires knowledge and security that he doesn’t have. With the experienced, the opposite is true: criticism is natural, almost automatic, and praise requires the rare virtue of recognizing in the other person, despite his own knowledge, an ability that he may not have. The beginner therefore grows by being able to criticize, while the experienced does so by learning to praise: both, in short, by going against what is easiest for them.