Tag: philosophy

The awareness that death is never as far away as one would like, or rather that it is a near reality, instills in man a sense of responsibility and urgency that cannot otherwise be achieved. Such qualities are indispensable in great minds; without them, the scale of priorities is distorted, the act is postponed or, at the very least, not carried out with due seriousness. Great work is always preceded by the realization of its importance and the need for it.

Nothing seems as impressive as the series of coincidences which, in frequent cases, impel man to work. The impression we get is that there is a mission for each soul, so that if it is not found, if it is not voluntarily and consciously pursued, it is in no way hindered, since circumstances ultimately force its execution. From this we can see how natural it is to accept the hypothesis of predestination. There are cases in which we come across events that are so transformative and decisive that we get the feeling that, like it or not, man, in the course of his life, always ends up becoming what he was born to be.

What life shows is that, sooner or later, man becomes what he feeds. This is the fate from which he can never escape, and which can be his fortune or his disgrace. That’s why, if not innate, visualization must be cultivated continuously. We are all, to a greater or lesser extent, like the boy in that beautiful Sabian symbol who, idealizing a great stone face and taking it as an ideal of greatness, becomes like it as he grows up. We all are, or rather, we can all be; before we can be, however, we have to want to be.

Intellectually, planning is always more stimulating than acting. For many reasons, especially because of the broader, sometimes unlimited horizons and the possibility of changing them entirely without damage or complications. In other words: plans exist as if suspended in mid-air; nothing pulls them, nothing pushes them, the connections they establish are ethereal, malleable, until the very moment they are put into practice. Here, the entire structure crystallizes, and if it does not do so definitively, it does so in such a way that, from that point on, to change is to break. Intellectually, planning is undoubtedly more stimulating than acting. But action, bearing the weight of responsibility and the risk of error, is superior in terms of emotion.