Tag: philosophy

What never fails to impress is that an extraordinary nature emerges from a barren cradle, rising as if without stimulus and starting from itself, completely overcoming all circumstances. In early cases, the phenomenon borders on the inexplicable. The most frequent occurrence, however, does not fail to impress. In this one, a careful analysis always shows the action of a centripetal force, which with greater or lesser intensity directs, not to say impels, the vocation and the resolution to externalize it. In this way, the process always seems to culminate at a point from which the past becomes strange but justified, although the origin of such a decisive motivation remains a mystery.

From the point of view of character formation, it is curious to note how the facilities, so desired, are almost always useless and, if available in great quantity, certainly harmful. When we notice the deep scars that hide behind a great character, we have to surrender to this late but perennial beauty that comes from them. It seems irrational to yearn for hardships; however, when we turn our eyes to the past, we must recognize that nothing like them can transform for the better.

Perhaps there is no more pleasurable feeling than that which springs forth as laughter in the face of the most bitter circumstances. A sincere laugh, that crosses the spirit and manifests itself fully, as if radiating through every molecule. Finally, life, and to hell with it! Without a doubt, it takes a lot of maturity to experience it, and the representation of the great sage as the one who allows himself a serene, perennial, carefree laugh is quite right. There is a transcendent dimension in this laughter that springs forth as the outcome of a tremendous spiritual effort.

Those who are impressed by the power of love certainly do not know misanthropy, a feeling that is infinitely more powerful and that does not detach itself from the one it dominates for a single second. Every aspect of reality reminds of it and reinforces it; it cannot be stripped for any activity. The intellectual stimulation it provides is indescribable, and he who experiences it finds himself always perfecting it, regardless of how he lives and what surroundings he is used to. If the misanthrope gives his neighbor an opportunity, he reinforces his misanthropy; if he does not, he reinforces it anyway. Therefore, he almost always lives in a planned manner, and every action that he performs or relegates takes on a clearer meaning and has more easily measurable consequences. Misanthropy amplifies every act and every feeling, and renders any manifestation that might cause it to give way of an extraordinary singularity.