Work in progress
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Unamuno on human life
"I don't want to die, no I don't want to, nor do I want to want to; I want to live forever, forever; and to live me, this poor me, that I am and that I feel myself to be today and here, and that is why the problem of the duration of my Continue reading
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Yeats on human life
“When I think of all the books I have read,” said Yeats, “of all the wise words I have heard, of all the anxieties I have given to my parents… of all the hopes I have had, all life weighed in the scales of my own life seems to me a preparation for some Continue reading
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Simone de Beauvoir on human life
"To declare that life is absurd is to say that it will never have meaning. To say that it is ambiguous is to decide that its meaning is never fixed, that it must always be earned."* A formidable declaration of powerlessness draped in an expression of the will to power, or how envy must rule, govern life. This sentence is Continue reading
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Pascal on human life
And this extract from Pascal, admitted and forced intimacy: "When I consider the small duration of my life, absorbed in the preceding and following eternity, the small space that I fill and even that I see, lost in the infinite immensity of the spaces that I ignore and that ignore me, I am frightened and astonished to see myself Continue reading
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Tolstoy on human life
This morning, I came across* — literally — this passage from Tolstoy's Confession which is a pure marvel and which so well announces The Death of Ivan Ilyich, written seven years later: "At first it seemed to me that these were gratuitous, misplaced requests. I believed that all this was already known, that if Continue reading
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A short history of Envy, from hero to scapegoat
The modern world is constantly presenting us with scapegoats. Lance Armstrong, Richard Millet, Jérôme Kerviel, John Galliano, to name but a few, each in their own field, with completely different causes and reasons, have recently embodied the scapegoat, the rightly punished culprit, the troublemaker put in his place. Continue reading
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Christian testimony
When I started this blog, the idea of writing about the liturgy quickly came to me. Not to claim expert status, but to share my experience about what represents the heart of a Christian's life. So there were two paths that had to merge: I had to tell the Continue reading
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In the shadow of Ernesto Sabato
When Ernesto Sabato died on April 30th at the age of 99, he repeated to himself the words of Maria Zambrano: To die, that elusive action that is carried out by obedience, happens beyond reality, in another realm. In his house in Santos Lugarès ("Holy Places" near Buenos Aires), Ernesto Sabato obeyed this last injunction. He Continue reading
Argentina , stupidity , Catholicism , counter-revolution , Ernesto Sabato , war , history , forgiveness -
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 at Delphi, retains a certain mystery. Another part of the phrase has remained with us: "But not too much"... Know thyself... But not too much! Plato leads Socrates to reflect on the Delphic formula in Continue reading
Catholicism , ethics , ancient Greece , history , Newman , Notre-Dame du Lys , Plato , politically correct , priest , religion , Socrates , Zenit -
original fault
Despite Shûsaku Endo's doubts about the true Christianity of the Japanese, as evoked in the admirable "Silence," it also seems to me that the Japanese have a real fundamental point in common with the Christian in the ease with which they put themselves in the place of the other. Is this not one of the founding bases of Christianity, one Continue reading
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Japan book review
I just finished reading "The Mask of the Samurai," an essay by Aude Fieschi (Editions Philippe Picquier). It's an educational, well-written book that presents the different facets of the Samurai throughout the Japanese Middle Ages until its decline with the advent of modern Japan. Continue reading
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Philia, agapê and other little things…
The Greeks used three words to describe love: eros, carnal love; philia, friendship; and agape, mature, accomplished love. Is love only there to comfort us? Shouldn't we seek to give meaning to love, as to every event in life? Only meaning saves the human condition. Meaning... Continue reading
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Haiku Lessons
To write a haiku, it is essential to respect four qualities: Sabi: simplicity and awareness of the passing of time which alters things and beings Sh?ri: the capacity to suggest the love of humble things Hosomi: the discovery of the beauty of everyday life Karumi: humor which lightens the Continue reading
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What Monsieur Ouine says in our time…
Monsieur Ouine, one of the greatest French novels of the 20th century, provides many answers to the modern world as it is. The following few quotes provide a glimpse of the evil that is everywhere. Continue reading