Tag: philosophy

The benefits that solitude brings to the intellectual are well known. It could even be said that an unusual dose of solitude is indispensable to him. However, sometimes not enough importance is given to the true blessing that good company is. There are those who have never been able to enjoy it and, in response to this impediment, have had to break down. Because one thing is clear: personality is strengthened when it enjoys the regular presence of peers; and it tends to weaken if it can only assert itself in solitude. The difference is whether or not there is an environment capable of welcoming it, and such an environment can only be created with a great deal of luck. He who allows himself to live a double life in order not to abandon social interaction entirely is therefore at a tremendous disadvantage: his inferior side, however long he lives, strives to destroy the last remnant of that noble part whose greatest possible glory in existence is to succeed in manifesting itself.

Dissatisfaction with time is understandable because it always seems to contradict expectations. When we want it to pass quickly, it seems slow; when we want the opposite, it seems fast. So the wait is always too long, and the good moments fleeting. We oscillate between unfulfilled desires and opportunities that slip through our fingers. The conclusion is that nothing can be enjoyed. However, over the years, we realize that although we cannot slow down or speed up the passage of time, we can always turn dissatisfaction into reality. There is no other lesson to be learned: everything is wrapped up in this manageable minimum, toward which conscious effort must converge.

Perhaps it is comforting to think that all the obstacles that stand in the way of a great goal are there to justify it in some way, ensuring that the quest continues, and with it its transformative effects. To tell the truth, it is repeatedly seen that once those obstacles are overcome, once one has reached the goal one so ardently desired, there springs forth the certain realization, manifested in an abrupt behavioral change, that the time has come to die.

Being able to see the present moment in perspective requires a level of awareness so rare that it perhaps deserves to be described as a gift. Doing so allows one to integrate correctly into time, acting as appropriate, that is, giving due justification to the past and ensuring that, in the future, there will be something to celebrate. Perhaps this alone does not justify the label of genius, but those who achieve it, even once, will forever remember this moment of rare enlightenment.