If we measure power by the aptitude—availability of means—to corrupt the will or action of others by imposing one’s own will, we see that power is always the reflection of a relationship of domination. If we break the relationship and isolate the dominating side, analyzing it from itself to itself, we notice that such power is useless and ordinary. The desire for power, in the vulgar sense, is always a desire that focuses its lens on the other, on subjugating the other, on strengthening oneself before the other—and therefore abject. To desire influence is to show oneself to be someone who, notwithstanding the manifest vanity, holds the other in prominence in the equation of one’s own life—belittling him, however, as one unconsciously belittles oneself.
Tag: philosophy
Evolution Demands a Rupture and an Expansion of the Horizon
Evolution demands, over and over again, a rupture and an expansion of the horizon; a distancing from the past and an opening to the unknown. Grow those who walk new paths, drink from different sources, preventing the addiction of nature itself. The mark of geniality is the capture of unexpected links between apparently disconnected subjects.
The State is an Odious Tyrannical Machine
The State is an odious tyrannical machine whose functions are summarized as enacting laws, forcing citizens to swallow them, and punishing those who refuse to do so. Its means are oppression and command; its resources are how much it takes by force from the individual. Among all the gods of the modern pantheon, this is perhaps the most repugnant, whose actions can never be approved by anyone who has learned to value honor and freedom. To blaspheme against this monster that corrupts souls and values is a moral duty.
Buddhism Is Drop Everything and Live on Alms
I would take Buddhism integrally as a model of conduct if doing so did not involve assuming a state of dependence that I find intolerable. Buddhism, to the letter, is to drop everything and live on alms. From this, the conclusion: if the final liberation requires as a mandatory step the complete subjection to this world, even temporarily, I will never experience it. It is as if, desiring freedom, it were first necessary to submit to the worst and most complete form of slavery. On second thought, I correct myself: I would not take Buddhism integrally because, integrally, anything becomes unpalatable.