The human brain always ends up humiliated when it yields to the irresistible temptation to order the irrational. It would be much easier if it accepted it in its unlimited manifestations, and assumed for itself its own limits. One cannot concatenate the spontaneous, the unheard-of, the exceptional, without running an immense risk of falling into ridicule. Error is the fruit of presumption. If reason demands answers, lacks logic, it must be content most of the time with the very process of analysis, with simply reducing possible mistakes through careful observation, and avoiding, as much as possible, hasty judgment. The irrational exists, imposes itself, and does not give a damn about its considerations.
Tag: philosophy
It Is a Formidable Audacity That Money…
It is a formidable audacity that money has invaded the field of philosophy in the way it has. These days, any self-respecting treatise on individual freedom must devote a good few pages to this earthly and unpleasant subject. It is as if a huge bucket of dirt had been thrown on top of a fountain of idealistic conceptions. It does not seem that it would be possible today to live as many ascetics of times past lived; that is, it is unlikely that, today, those would not be subjected to necessary slavery. It is true that lack of money limits freedom, and one does not have to be a materialist to accept the hypothesis that, yes, money can also increase it. But what can money do for human freedom? At what point is it superfluous? If the common man, perforce, has to take part in the money-making culture, it is quite right that he should determine how much and how far he should sink. So therein lies an important object for ethics…
There Should Be a Name for the Feeling of Affection….
There should be a name for the feeling of affection towards one’s own land that differentiates it from this despicable patriotism that does nothing but castrates the mind from equanimous judgment. The dictionary itself would do well to point out xenophobia as a possible synonym for patriotism, in view of the use that has been made of this unfortunate word. What a disappointment! To open history books and come across infamous adulators of tyranny and power, to find unacceptable justifications for every kind of crime, to come across the attachment to stupidity, the unswerving refusal to admit any virtue that does not flatter the “patriotic” pride… It is worth subscribing to what Cioran said: “Un homme qui se respecte n’a pas de patrie.”
A Love Disappointment Affects, More Often Than Not…
A love disappointment affects, more often than not, a superficial and less noble layer of the individual. It hurts, but it is the physical pain of the wounded animal. Generally, it does not shake the concept of love in the disappointed soul: it is possible to find someone else. Disappointment, however, when it comes from a friend to whom friendship in the only sense in which this word should be used, which elevates the souls involved and ennobles the race, is like a stab wound of very harsh philosophical and moral consequences. Unlike the common love betrayal, it is not pride that is wounded, but the higher part of nature that asked for nothing and received meanness in exchange for generosity. It is something that fills the soul with grief. It destroys the concept one has of others; it weakens the ability to trust; it undermines, in advance, the disposition for future relationships… Such nonsense! As if this word, just like the other, was not already corrupted…