Morally, man is measured less by his affinities than by his repulsions. We know him by looking at what he rejects or, in other words, what is contrary to his character. His friends tell less about him than his adversaries, what he does less than what he peremptorily refuses to do. Moral sympathizes with caution and rejects with convulsing nerves.
Tag: philosophy
Building a Fragmentary Work
The thinker gains a lot by choosing, as Nietzsche and Cioran did, to build a fragmentary work. Letting go of the presumptuous and counterproductive delirium of attainable unity, i.e., of supposedly attainable perfection, the thinker can concentrate on conferring precision and potency to small fragments. Moreover, the superiority of a collection of aphorisms over an essay is indisputable: the latter hardly ever justifies rereading; the former’s innate multiplicity makes complete assimilation impossible all at once. Furthermore: building in fragments makes it possible to precisely settle the disparate and complicated mental movements, while developing and deepening a single reasoning certainly imposes a limit—that is, it forces the mind to dismiss a large part of its manifestations.
An Honorable Man, Aware of His Own Dignity
An honorable man, aware of his own dignity, if convinced politely and respectfully that a certain action is good and just, will willingly perform it, and be grateful for the advice. If, on the other hand, this same honorable man is ordered to perform a certain action under threat of punishment, he will react by instinct, driven by his own honor, in a manner contrary to the disrespectful one who threatened him. From this the natural conclusion: orders and threats are offenses to anyone who has a sense of dignity.
Old Age, Disease and Death…
Old age, disease, and death; old age, disease, and death: the obsessions that paved the Buddha’s path to “enlightenment.” More than open eyes, it takes courage to confront them. Buddha understood that thought is worth nothing if it does not incur in action: from reasoning, he drew philosophy, and philosophy guided his conduct. Old age, disease, and death: everything that lives is condemned to torment, exhaustion, and suppression. The mind always wants to deceive itself; so let it suffer, let it daily embitter the conclusions of its judgment, until it has all to the last illusion torn from it! And thus, teaches the shrewd and enlightened psychologist, one escapes from the evil cycle that always results in suffering and destruction.