Adages and thoughts, expressing broad and lengthy musings in a compact form! (in the French & English Languages)
Just as I detest the intellectual who deprives me of my dear folly, I despise the idiot who distracts me from my intellectually sophisticated phase!
I surmise knowledge (often) flows in a reverse fashion, in a many-to-one style mapping of content. Knowledge discovery/creation (in the non-natural-scientific fields) seems to eternally recur, say à la Poincaré’s recurrence, or Nietzsche’s return! Ergo, for such fields, one is better off going for the old, not the new: “vetus, non novus”! There might be an epistemic stagnation somewhere along the path.
Legal frameworks exist merely because mankind’s folly knows no bounds!
Freedom (especially with modernity) may shatter us! You stare at us and all you see are “slaves” at the mercy of “norms”!
Mon corps me demande de sourire et d’être heureux, mon esprit en fait de même, mais ma raison n’est pas toujours d’accord!
One shouldn’t be surprised being a victim of wickedness. The inherent stochasticity of life and humans makes the absence of malice extremely weird and unlikely!
They desire to know one’s true nature, one’s true self, in an unhampered way. Though it might (at times) look trivial to some, it could be akin to information placed (and not even hidden, but, alas,) at the core of an unfathomable soul!
One of the only persons I know of who comprehends (right to their limits) racism, xenophobia, chauvinism, sexism, apartheid, bigotry, dogmatism, fanaticism, and other such prejudices (so, independent of the individual and even at times the collective victim(s)’ choices, abilities, actions, and more) is Hajime Isayama, the author of Shingeki no Kyojin (i.e. Attack on Titans). He seems to have gotten the salient point that, at our human scale (getting rid of the spiritual realm, which is way beyond our practical reach for now), one of the only things that deters one from partaking in such unworthy activities is “fear”, or perhaps, the fear of devastating consequences and the thought and realisation of being at the mercy (both for the suffering/misery/torture inflicted, and for the saving/heroic actions, when at the peak of despair) of exactly those one profoundly detests, those one profoundly despises. It feels like being maltreated and tortured by someone you detest, agonising in the worse possibly imaginable way, right to the verge of demise, and being revived/saved by the one and only hero, your dear tormentor. In such a scenario, one realises his/her destiny lies in the hands of those he/she cannot stand. But, alas, humans do forget, so a quick reminder is sadly, periodically needed, hence rendering a vicious cycle. Rather than elevating ourselves to angelic levels à la Pico della Mirandola’s Hominis Dignitate, we often remain shallow, or rather, we stoop to bestiality!
It is a factually common and sad realisation to observe a fool emphasizing the imbecility of an idiot, not realising he too is at most a nanometer away from that condition!
It takes bravado, bravery, or perhaps folly, to walk away from what one has as only viable option, but which one neither desires nor cherishes as a life accomplishment (without knowing beforehand how things shall unfold with time). Such a move could however momentarily set one free (it’s all a matter of perspective and time)!
Our job: Our lives may look complex but are probably a mere repetition of different phases/events we already went through. Navigating from childhood, to adolescence, then to adulthood may seem to be entirely different steps, but they could be (almost) identical phases with slightly varied attributes. We end up going through a cycle, reliving similar events, but mapped unto the corresponding sociocultural, economic and biological settings! Our job may merely be to make this cycle either virtuous, steady/unresponsive, or vicious!
Please, I beg of you, stay away from specious individuals!
You can proceed by making use of the privilege you have been granted to spoil me as much as you can. Do not worry, it no longer matters, life has spoiled me already!
He who doesn’t know himself as much as he endeavours to know his surrounding and enemies, is lost!
It is a fallacious approach to always desire to be on a specific segment of a spectrum, say either left or right, 1 or 0, etc. Things are alas not always that rigid. Most people focus on wanting to be absolutely right, without having the thought of being honest first!
Ne m’embêtez point si je n’ai pas encore eu le temps (si précieux) de profiter de mon oisiveté quotidienne. J’en ai besoin pour me sentir humain après de longues heures consacrées à des occupations d’ordre socio-économique!
It’s better to suffer in reality than in your imagination!
Alas, one’s life is merely a deserto!
Do not try to rationally explain phenomena when Caesar (or rather, Caligula) solicits a swift request. You might end up as meatballs somewhere on the globe!
Have the insightful and rational habit to accept whatever is better than your current situation, so long as you have the option to switch to something even better later, after fully extracting the best out of the previous ones! (Doing this ethically can only lead one to success). This is mere rational real-life option exercising, what could be seen as a sort of antifragile strategy!
We ought to stop (or at least repress our complaining of life). Just as the law can be harsh on us, but it is, alas, the law (dura lex, sed lex), life can be (and is often) harsh, unfair, and at times extremely hard, but it is, alas, life! We have to bear it. Dura vita, sed vita!
Going astray is extremely important (perhaps, vital) for one to really discover who he/she is and what is his/her purpose, even when already on the right track (remember, one cannot guess beforehand the righteousness of his/her path). When lucky enough to be sent back on track (whether on your own or with some external aid), one is almost always better than the rest, so mighty that no one can halt. Please, go astray, but do so for the good reasons! It probably seems hard for some to fathom such a habit at the moment, but things shall eventually sink in!
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The Three Ages of Man, by Giorgione!
People read books and at times fail to map the content to (sometimes very trivial) circumstances in their own lives! Are we merely reading to impress peers?!
One of the only things that seems to set one free in decision making and hence life (psychologically & emotionally, socially, culturally, professionally, etc) is perhaps “real (not pseudo) independent” financial comfort, then, some other factors may follow! Of course, one has to be stripped of such a comfort to realise this!
Unless one is ready to unnecessarily and severely suffer (and possibly perish prematurely), in our current world configuration, I suspect only some sort of financial (real independence, not some sort of humongous wealth with horrendous interdependences) independence and self sufficiency enable one to be really free on all aspects (intellectually, socially, psychologically, professionally, geographically, etc). It liberates us to become who we want to be, to become who we aspire to be. The reverse argument could be proposed but it is often that of those who already possess the aforementioned attribute, hence biased. We end up moving from slave trade to slave trade!
Ta beauté ne te sauvera point, même pas la présence de ton postérieur sans équivoque, aussi voluptueuse sois-tu!
One should strive to follow the blueprint set by the Lord for our success (regarding all the various aspects of our lives). The plan unfolds progressively, all you need is to start following the plan (be optimistic)!
Don’t be blind, you’ll probably recognise your blueprint!
Never cease to follow your blueprint, else, it would be an insult to the Lord, betraying what was given to you!
La bibliothèque doit croître et évoluer, le savoir ne connaît point de bornes, l’érudition est le Saint-Graal!
Some essays seem more appealing and insightful than, say, (some) novels. Simply, (some) novels narrate day-to-day experiences we all (more or less) go through, but they just appear less entertaining in real life (we like the literary packaging)!
On Aesthetics, Embellishment, and Knowledge acquisition: If we have to be slightly honest, then: If one reads solely for knowledge acquisition and not for linguistic aesthetics and/or emotional thrills, then a non-negligible part of (the new/recent, not the relatively old/ancient) literature (via novels, plays and poems) becomes (almost) redundant, and hence, (almost) worthless (apart from the emotions and aesthetics one may desire once in a while, after one’s activities). “A good portion” of (the current/new) literary works are mere iterations, with slight variations, of (trivial) life observations (banalities, if we may call them so), which any human with a modicum of existence, and thus corresponding life experience (whether personally or via his surrounding), necessarily already knows (whether implicitly or explicitly). We (sometimes) don’t just pay enough attention to real life, it’s all just right there before us, but we rather rush to praise authors. We know we are victims of retrospective distortions, we know of the fallibility of our memory and hence it’s deterioration with time, we know of things/events acting as stimuli for the involuntary recalling of memories, we know of our hypocrisy, we are aware of our cognitive dissonance, we are aware of our overconfidence when craving success, we are aware of our feebleness (on multiple aspects), we are aware of our risk aversion (or whatever we may call it / however we may describe it), we are aware of our gullibility, we are aware of our selfishness, we are aware of the complexity of our (social, economic, cultural, political, etc) lives, we are aware of some counterintuitive aspects in life, and much more. Ergo, one doesn’t need lengthy prose and verses to grasp such commonness (though acting upon them is another story, far beyond the activities of book writing and reading, rather requiring practical heuristics). I suspect one is (epistemically) better-off focusing on (relatively old) literature, (ancient) history, (ancient) philosophy, (ancient) theology, and (pure/natural, with very limited social) sciences. Such recommended fields could however possess some works presented in a literary fashion (for some intuition and embellishment). Most of standard (current) literature should be read merely for aesthetics, emotional thrills, and especially when one has plenty of free time at his/her disposal (say, to relax, for entertainment). It’s akin to music and other artistic works (it’s not really about knowledge, but something else, beyond mere logical explanations). For the fellows who are too busy, no worries, the good news is that you just have to live! (All these are further exacerbated in the Information Age!) However, a non-negligible portion of literature is extremely useful and offers wisdom and solace to our wandering souls, say, like the presence/necessity of folly, à la Erasmus.
Everything takes time in life, even “shit”, say, “La Merda de Can”!
Beaucoup d’auteurs écrivent d’abord pour étaler leur érudition (ou pour d’autres raisons inconnues), et ensuite, ils essaient d’insérer le message pour lequel l’œuvre est censée exister. Ceci explique pourquoi nous avons parfois des bouquins (inutilement) volumineux!
People spend precious time lofty philosophising on topics of utmost irrelevance (particularly at a grand scale, when zooming out and observing such futility with regards to one’s life trajectory) whereas the elephant in the room is just right there, waiting!
Lorsque vous êtes gentil, on vous traite de naïf, lorsque vous l’êtes un peu moins, on essaie de vous effacer du tableau. Est-il véritablement préférable de paraître fou et naïf au lieu de crever?
When they say “Yeah, I do like reading”, they often implicitly mean “Yeah, I do like reading novels or plays or (occasionally) poems”. They seldom refer to essays, scientific and/or highly technical books, or others. This difference in persona however yields the fascinating attribute of life. Just imagine a world full of billions of identical (in all aspects) humans!
Movies’ and series’ soundtrack playlists are more of albums than actual albums from an artist or group of artists meant to convey a theme, an emotion, and more!
Judging one for being nice with all (say, good or bad individuals, or whatever fragile categorisations used) is kind of failing to see that the individual is trying to take the idea of “doubting all” (skeptical on all) to avoid harming the potential innocents, to the limit. One cannot always know the culprit with certainty unless armed with irrefutable evidence (which is seldom the case in real life). It is not always a matter of condoning (you see things differently when directly involved, keep ruminating). The complications of social life make things even worse! Alas, one should doubt even this proposition. You cannot know more without doubting your current understanding. Thus my Amor Dubitationis, Amor Cognitionis!
Ne pose point de questions si tu n’es pas prêt à en recevoir les réponses et à agir adéquatement!
May the Lord guide us!
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