When Ernesto Sabato passed away on April 30 at the age of 99, he repeated the words of Maria Zambrano to himself: To die, this elusive action which is carried out by obeying, happens beyond reality, in another realm . In his house in Santos Lugarès (“Holy Places” near Buenos Aires), Ernesto Sabato obeys this last injunction. He has been preparing for it for a long time. In Resistance , his moving literary testament published in 2002, he wrote: I forgot large parts of my life, but, on the other hand, certain encounters, moments of danger and the names of those who pulled me out of depressions and bitterness still throbs in my hands. And yours too, you who believe in me, who have read my books and are going to help me die.
Category: Politics
Newman and Socrates
The links between ancient Greek philosophy and Christianity are numerous. The most famous of the Greek precepts: Gnothi Seauton , "Know thyself", inscribed in Delphi retains a certain mystery. Another end of the sentence has stuck with us: “But not too much”… Know yourself… But not too much! Plato leads Socrates to reflect on the Delphic formula in the Philebus :
SOCRATES: In short, it is a species of vice which takes its name from a particular habit, and this part of vice in general is a disposition contrary to that recommended by the Delphi inscription.
PROTARCHUS: It is a precept: know thyself, that thou speakest, Socrates?SOCRATES: Yes, and the opposite of this precept, in the language of the inscription, would be not to know oneself at all.
"Know thyself" in order to improve yourself, to erase in you what hinders your development. Not knowing himself is already a fault for Socrates. "But not too much", because man so easily believes himself much more than he is, son of Adam, man is the plaything of his presumption. “But not too much” so as not to take yourself for a god.
This is one of the foundations of Greek culture, the idea of knowing oneself, the idea of wisdom, of advancing in wisdom, but also the feeling that if you dig too deep, surprises can arise, and not necessarily good. The Greeks were very aware of man's weaknesses, his shortcomings. The Greeks are even, with the Christians, those who have most highlighted the possibility of human weakness, it is also what makes them so close to us. The weakness of man is expressed in their gospels, the tragedies. Pity and terror are the two pillars. Know yourself… but not too much.
And by Saint Antoine… (Death of General Antoine Lecerf)
Antoine is no more. He left on Good Friday. April 22, 2011. He is in the house of the Father. Antoine is Antoine Lecerf . Lieutenant General Antoine Lecerf. A master of war. A brilliant leader of men. One of the most extraordinary men I have known.
When you first met Antoine Lecerf, there was this frank and firm handshake, but there was immediately something else; something about charisma. Antoine Lecerf is said to have charmed snakes. He shook your hand and immediately there was a spell. He wanted to know right away if you were with him, if you were ready, if you supported his project. Which project ? There was a new one every five minutes. And he didn't drop any. He thought fast, but his friendship lasted a long time. He wanted to know if you were with him and he had an infallible way of knowing it: he shook your hand, he kept it, his face approached yours, he came to meet you, he wanted to know. He shook your hand, he kept it, his face approached yours and he wrinkled his left eyelid a little as if to improve his visual acuity, as if to be sure of what he was going to see, of what you were going to reveal to him. His squinted eye, that penetrating gaze was looking for something. He was looking for that little flame. He wanted to know if you too were animated. Antoine Lecerf only consorted with lively people. Nothing interested him more than to know if you were too, or even to a lesser degree if you could be (which was enough to satisfy him, because the potential had a special value for him). Antoine Lecerf chose you. And nothing was less the result of chance.
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Emmanuel Todd or intellectual vulgarity
Emmanuel Todd was on France Culture the other morning to give us his good word. Emmanuel Todd is a prophet. He's got it. Above all, he claims it. He doesn't have the honesty. Indeed, one cannot be a prophet and an ideologue.
The chronicler's hatred
I call this article the columnist's hatred. The French chronicler—because he is indeed dealing with a French disease—is how he invents himself master of time, of the world, and above all of how he is doing. It's unbearable. Redact the chroniclers and tear out the buds!
All these columnists together form nothing more than a Café du Commerce. With references.
I take for example the opening of the antenna of France Culture in the morning. For 30 years, I have listened to France Culture every morning. I am what is called a France Culture aficionado. Culture Matin by Jean Lebrun was part of my DNA. I loved him until his political correctness and partisanship came to the fore with the war in Yugoslavia. Fortunately, he left the ship which he seemed to scuttle all alone.
Another stopover...
Alvaro Mutis is a very great writer and what does not spoil one of my very dear friends. As he hasn't published any books for a few years, I thought I would pay him a little tribute through quotes from "The Last Stopover of the Tramp Steamer", this short novel is full of the grace that reading Alvaro Mutis provides. To re discover the Colombian writer.
The virtues of boredom
In an acidic little book ( De la France , translated by Alain Paruit. L'Herne), Emil Cioran, gave an answer to the French malaise. He explained how attached he was to boredom, but he distinguished two kinds of boredom: that which opens "its doors to infinity", "as an extension in the spiritual of an immanent emptiness of being" and that which he thinks as one of the most important evils of France, its boredom “devoid of infinity”. He calls it "the boredom of clarity." […] the fatigue of things understood”.
Notes on the French Revolution
Most of the quotations concerning the French Revolution given in this article come from the book “ Historically correct ” by Jean Sévillia.
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Solzhenitsyn: “Men not being endowed with the same capacities, if they are free, they will not be equal, and if they are equal, it is because they are not free. »
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There is a revolutionary idea of permanent invention that still persists today. It is an idea which is also contained in the idea of Progress. That everything remains to be invented. René Guénon said: “There are no new ideas on earth. “
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Robespierre: “If Louis can be the subject of a trial, he can always be absolved; he may be innocent: what am I saying? He is presumed to be so until he is judged; but if Louis can be presumed innocent, what becomes of the Revolution? »
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Westermann at the Convention: “There is no more Vendée: it is dead under our free sword. I crushed the children under the feet of our horses, massacred the women who will no longer give birth to brigands. I don't have a prisoner to blame me for. I wiped it all out. »
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Carrier (after drowning 10,000 innocent people in the Loire): “We will make France a cemetery, rather than not regenerating it in our own way. »
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“The Vendée must be annihilated because it dared to doubt the benefits of freedom. »
Smet's Father
There are incredible stories. that of Pierre Jean Smet is one of them.
Still discussing with the same joy with my friend JB du C. the other evening, I talk to him about my idea of a priest arriving in Japan in the 1830s, something impossible or almost. Japan is totally closed to the outside world, the Meiji era is quietly preparing behind the scenes, and especially the religious orders, like the Western world, have fallen swooning over the New World. Yes, but here we must always hope for a great figure of an independent Catholic.
Pierre Jean de Smet is one. This priest nicknamed “black cassock” by the Indians, negotiated with Sitting Bull while Lincoln asked his advice. Not having a forked tongue, he very often achieves miracles (reading his life shows how much this word can still have a meaning). Incredible route in the Rocky Mountains and formidable source of inspiration, Father de Smet put ethics where politicians already put only cynicism and pragmatism.
The secular and modern world
There is the beautiful Italian word "vergogna", there is the French word emptied of its meaning in modern times "shame".
Who hasn't found themselves in the middle of a dinner with dear friends wanting to flee the place, to flee so as not to have to endure stupidity, incoherence, petty-bourgeois remarks, vulgarity? The need for clean air is felt when our lungs are no longer sufficient to store the little ambient air. Very often these people that we love, who only repeat what they have read in the newspapers, on blogs, irritate us… The Internet can be a pure enemy of intelligence.
Usually at these dinners, the worst will be reached when talking about religion.
The secular and modern world has enacted a monstrous, protean, incandescent law: religion will have to be confined to “the private sphere”. I put this last media expression in quotes for reasons that we will understand, as often with media expressions, it means nothing. I am not against the idea of a certain discretion in the practice of religion, but I am against the idea of hiding from being a Christian. Especially in a country like ours! But wouldn't the problem be there and nowhere else? Doesn't this country stop hating itself?