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| QUOTATIONS 2025-2045 |
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| 2025. Judging by the available empirical data for a nation to be great a certain numerical balance between the number of geniuses and number of mediocrities it produces must be maintained. The recent statistical analyses indicates that a ratio of one genius per a million mediocrities seems to guarantee a nation's greatness in perpetuity, while any deviation from this norm causes the tension to develop between these two contrasting groups which are detrimental to the nation's eminence. The mechanism of this phenomenon is rather complex and a lot of work has to be done before its causality could be determined with the sufficient for scientific purposes degree of certitude. Fortunately, some trends can already be detected. Apparently, when the numbers of mediocrities reach a critical point they produce a violent reaction of disgust and revolt leading to a kind of volcanic eruption of these sentiments, the eruption from which a genius would emerge. However, when the numbers of mediocrities exceed this critical point they act like a deluge which extinguishes the volcano and drowns any potential genius before it can develop fully to emerge. Likewise , when the numbers of mediocrities fall bellow this critical mass, a genius relaxes, becomes complacent, loses his edge and incentives for struggle and turns into mere talent or even mediocrity itself. Also, as can be seen from the above, it looks like the relationship between genius and mediocrities is one-sided. For while the number of mediocrities influence the number of geniuses, the opposite is not true – geniuses have no effect what so ever on mediocrities, though almost all of them harbor an illusion they do. Which just shows that there is a bit of mediocrity in every genius, though again, the reverse is never true. The genius is a revolt against mediocrity but not the other way around. The first knows what it is, the second– only what it is not. 2026. For a long, some may say too long, time I looked down upon people who pretend to be someone else, until one day it dawned on me that what such people deserve is not my contempt but pity and compassion. For the single most important reason people pretend to be somebody else is unhappiness, the profound, lifelong unhappiness with who they are. And the reason I always despised (rather strong term yet a true expression of my former attitude) their lack of authenticity, their pretense and pose was that I myself was always comfortable with who I am. As you may noticed, I don't use word "happy." It is not given to me to experience happiness, it isn't part of my nature, I suppose. Being content is as high as I go on the scale of positive emotions. And because I was comfortable with myself , I couldn't understand anyone who isn't and consequently tries to be someone else. Which, regrettably, prevented me from sympathizing with a lot of people, some of whom were very close to me. It remains to be seen if now, after I obtained this understanding and sympathy, I would be able to treat them differently. All I can say at this moment is that I'll try my best to do so. 2027. In the beginning there were pain and suffering. In the beginning there were fear and dread. In the beginning there was Evil. In the beginning there was Devil. Believe in Devil preceded faith in God. Devil is primary, God is secondary. Suffering is primary, salivation is secondary. Pain is primary, pleasure is secondary. Evil is primary, Good is secondary. Action is primary, reaction is secondary. 2028. Everyone walks in a similar way, determined by human anatomy –one leg ahead of the other. But while this is true, some walk fast, the others slowly. There are differences in pace and gait. Also, direction and purpose may be different, and so on, and so forth. The same method could be applied to everything else about us. Our obvious biological and social similarities should not obscure the fact that we all, each and everyone of us, are different, inimitable individuals, and what is learned about one cannot be used to understand the other. This makes life extremely difficult in the area of personal interaction. It also represents a major obstacle in the field of medicine. Unfortunately, these difficulties cannot be overcome, unless some kind of uniform human being could be created. But who would want that? 2029. Though Canadians are generally known for their adherence to the principles of "law, order and good government," the inherent rebelliousness of some has to find its outlet. Yet this defiance of the prevailing norms is also expressed in a distinctive Canadian manner. For even when Canadians on rare occasions rebel it is done in a peculiar, and seemingly self-contradictory form of law-abiding non-conformism – straining against the tethers of legality, and yet not breaking them, pushing the borders of law and yet without actually crossing them. In short, among the world's rebels the Canadians seem to be the only ones who would try their hardest to make sure that no matter what subversive acts they commit these acts could not be used against them in the courts of the land, for they are always within the formal law. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm beginning to suspect that Canadians are born with a Criminal Code imprinted on their genetic code. 2030. Those gently rolling hills covered by the lush green grass the English countryside is so famous for and so universally admired by the foreigners looking at glossy pictures or TV screens come, unbeknownst to them, at the expense of the long-suffering Brits plagued by one of the wettest climate on Earth with moisture coming unceasingly in the form of notorious fogs, wet snow in winter and cold and seemingly endless rains during the rest of the year, the climate from which the natives of this "green and pleasant land" always tried to escape from (if they can afford it) to the warmer, sunnier and drier places of burned grass and scorched soil. 2031. Many a great writer led an unusually turbulent lives, and to be perfectly honest, mostly of their own makings. And I have a theory, which is admittedly hard to prove, that if not fully intentionally (though some might) then at least subconsciously they went looking for trouble to keep themselves alive emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and as a result above all creatively, being afraid, and justifiably so, that tranquility and order in personal life would smother and extinguish their unique gift. In the realm of human emotions one cannot know without personally experiencing them himself. One wouldn't know what happiness is unless one is or was happy, as one wouldn't know what misery feels like unless one is or was miserable. And you can go down, or up, the list but the same necessity of personal experience to possess emotional knowledge remains true. To be great a writer should be able to reproduce in his work a vast range of human emotions and experiences truthfully. And since a writer is but a man it could only be done if he himself went through the same gamut of emotional experiences as the people he intends to write about. And there is no other way to do it but to have a full and turbulent life, and to know first hand its sorrows and joys, its victories and defeats, its highs and lows. To write about life, the only writing which is worth doing, one has to know life. And to know life one has to live it, which, sometimes, requires an effort. For there are too many quiet corners when one can hide from life. And for many this probably is the best place to be. But not for a writer, especially one aspiring for greatness. 2032. Every entity, be it physical or spiritual, a stone or a religion, has its inner and outer parts, its core and its fringes, its middle and its extreme which cannot be separated one from the other. So, to say that the extreme is not (or less) representative of a whole than the middle is as false as to present the inner as an essential and outer as superfluous, for neither can exist without the other. And thus they are both equally essential, for that's what being essential means. As a matter of fact, the outer (by virtue of its special location) has actually more impact on the outside world than the inner. We seem have no problem to follow this logic when claiming mass murder to be one of the essential attributes of Fascism and Communism. But when it comes to religion, any religion, we suddenly become circumspect, even timid. Consequently, there is a great reluctance, even on the part of the most open minded, to declare the Inquisition to be as essential a part of Christianity as Jihad of Islam. But as faint heart would never win fair lady, an attitude of timidity and circumspection would get us nowhere when dealing with religion. Religions may be about the sacred, but as social phenomena they are not, and should be judged on their merits like all other human institutions. 2033. Comparing the quality of acting and the beauty quotient of today's movies with those of the past it is hard to escape a suspicion that the casting directors who used to scout Broadway theaters and actors' studios to find suitable performers go now directly to the model agencies to fill the parts. 2034. The one sure way to make your book a bestseller is to seize the absolute power, Hitler or Mao style, and then force everyone to read it, or else. 2035. From the prophet Muhammad, who by the time he died in 632 A. D. had united separate tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam, and on to more recent times, most of the countries which accepted Islam have done so, at least implicitly, for the same reason of unifying hitherto fragmented and unruly population into one religious and state entities. And in the Muslim world, from Afghanistan to Somalia, Islam still seems to remain the indispensable force for keeping these countries together and for maintaining some kind of civic order in them. Therefore, unless the West understands this and consequently abandons the idea of transforming the Muslim countries into something resembling Western democracies, which at present produces nothing but disintegration, strife and chaos in them, the conflict between it and the Islamic world is unavoidable. Perhaps, remembering that once upon a time Christianity played the same unifying role on the European continent may help its now enlightened citizens to dispense with their wishful thinking and to accept the fact, however contrary it is to their best intentions, that at present Islam is the only glue capable of keeping Muslim countries together and in relative peace. One hopes that this state of affairs will eventually change, yet at present it is hard to predict when and how. 2036. On God and Evil. A) The Judeo-Christian explanation for the problem of human evil is based on the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, the first humans created by God and the father and the mother of all Humanity. There are several flaws in this argument: 1) If God created Man in his image and Man is flawed then God is flawed, which is contrary to the supreme theological assumption that God is perfect; 2) If Adam and Eve were flawed, God had plenty of time to make the better version. Judging by human behavior he didn't. Why? a) if He couldn't, then He is not omnipotent; b) if He could but wouldn't then he is not omnibenevolent Since neither outcome is possible ex hypothesi , the original argument – human evil is the result of Original Sin – is not valid. B) On Natural Evil. Is it logically possible to have the Earth without floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc? Are these "natural evils" essential to the physical functioning of this planet? Man tries to alleviate the terrible consequences of "natural evils" and sometimes succeeds. Therefore God, the creator, could have done the same thing with much greater success. Since He didn't God must be the cause of "natural evils," either by omission or by commission. Consequently, both His omnipotence and omnibenevolence are again in doubt. C) It is interesting to see how the Christian apologists, while putting such an emphasis on obedience to God and tracing all human troubles to man's disobedience, suddenly become the greatest defenders of human freedom to chose (in the form of "free will") when the proof of existence of God depends on it, as it does in solving a contradiction of existence of Evil in the world created by supposedly omnipotent and omnibenevolent God. What they fail to notice is that in the process they replace God by Free Will and thus make the precious Free Will the main object of their worship. C) If evil is intrinsic in human nature then the so-called free choice as the expression of "free will" is to kill or to be killed, to eat or to be eaten, to rob or to be robbed, which is well summarized in the popular expression – it is a jungle out there. D) The Great Flood, the demolition the Tower of Babel , the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – these are the well known Biblical examples of God imposing limits on human evil. But if it is possible to impose limits on evil why not to eliminate evil altogether? E) If God could not create the world without natural evils, because it would cancel physical laws, if God could not create man without evil being a part of human nature because it would deprive man of free will, then this world and this man are the best possible. Therefore there is no need for improvement, no blame for original sin, no need for crucifixion, for forgiveness, for a Kingdom of Heaven. F) Finally, what about a Kingdom of Heaven – will it contain gratuitous evil, natural evil, free will, soul-making, etc.? If it will not, then it means that such a world without evil is possible, and if it is possible why didn't God make it as such in the first place? 2037. Not having read all the great books or heard all the great music should not be a cause for regret but rather to be looked upon as an exciting opportunity to experience joy and ecstasy the discovery of the great works of art always brings. 2038. There is a great deal of difference whether one think about something because one is really interested in it, and just wanting to stop thinking about something else, usually unsettling. The first is productive, the second distractive. There is a great deal of difference whether one talks about something because one really wants to talk about it, and simply trying to avoid talking about something else, usually unpleasant. The first is natural, the second forced For a very long time I was lucky not to know these differences. Now, unfortunately, I do. 2039. One can escape people, but the thoughts are inescapable. And, occasionally, there is a need to share them. But for that one needs people again. So, at the end, there is no escape. 2040. Some people are interested in the big things – the stars, others in the small – atoms. My main preoccupation is with what lies in between and partakes of both, the big and the small – the men. 2041. Amongst all that men desire, money (we are talking here about a reasonable amount, not millions) is the easiest thing to get, easier than true friendship, love, recognition, fame, fulfilment of one's potentials and aspirations, etc. For money is ubiquitous. Everyone has some and with due diligence and persistence can acquire more. Not so with the rest of what we are longing for. For very often no amount of efforts can give one friendship and love, or fulfilment of dreams. And as far as recognition and fame are concerned they are in such a short supply that a chance to get them, like in a high stake lottery, is very rare indeed. Keeping this in mind, instead of despising lovers of money as crass, they should be envied as ones who can obtain their goal when the rest of us, proud of our lofty purposes, miserably fail. 2042. Muslim terrorists distort true Islam. Christian fanatics distort true Christianity. Violent Hindus distort true Hinduism, etc., etc. Does it ever occur to anyone that any entity which is capable of being distorted must contain in itself potentiality for distortion. Actually, in the case of religions, it is not about distortion. A complex, multifaceted religion is like a lump of clay or a block of stone, which in the hands of a sculptor could be turned into many different things. One sculptor may make a man out of it, another – an animal. Both are contained in the original material, both are true to it, one no more than the other. And because religions are about unreal, because they are the creatures of man's imagination, they are especially susceptible to "distortion," which in all fairness are not really distortions. Something which has no base in reality and could not be subjected to the objective reality test, cannot be distorted. 2+2=5 is as wrong as 2+2=7, no more, no less. All religions are phantasies, and one phantasy is as legitimate as another because none of them are valid. Therefore it is illogical to consider one version as distortion and another as true, and then use it as a political weapon in the religious strife. 2043. And what about the "disproportionate response" Israel so often accused of when it strikes back after yet another Palestinian terrorist act? The short answer is "yes," it is disproportionate, but with certain qualifications. It is disproportionate as any response of a stronger warring party to the weaker. Ever watched a boxing match? When one boxer is stronger than another his punches are heavier, there are more of them and they inflict greater damage on the weaker opponent, and the outcome of a bout is easy to predict –the strong wins, the weak loses. All violent conflicts involving more or less unequal adversaries are essentially the same. The harm one side causes the other is proportionate to its strength and not to the weakness of its opponent. If responses were proportionate, like if you kill 10 of my soldiers I am entitle to kill 10 of yours, and no more, the conflict may go on forever, which at the end is bad for both sides. Whether we like it or not, whether it offend our sense of fairness, the stronger side always wins by inflicting disproportionate damages on the weaker one. As a matter of fact, the reason Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to go on forever is that Israel always pull its punches and never uses its full strength to crash once and for all its enemies, being too much concerned with proportionality. Ultimately, the continuity of Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the reflection of conflicting attitudes of the world toward Israel. After the Holocaust the world cannot permit Israel to be defeated and thus witness the second Holocaust, and yet it will not allow Israel to win either, seeing it as an injustice done to the Palestinian people. And so, the strife will go on and on, as it always does when the natural outcome –the stronger defeating the weaker– is denied. 2044. The blacks play a race card, the gays – a hate card. To paraphrase Shakespeare, this world is a poker game and if you want to be a player better bring your own trump card. 2045. Everyone (though some more than the others) may occasionally prefer solitude, but it is against human nature to enjoy loneliness. Yet, sometimes it seems unavoidable, as if caused by the developments which are beyond our control. The thing is, and the damnable thing it is, that the more I do what I like to do the most – reading and writing – the farther I move away not only from the rest of humanity in general but, which is much more disturbing, from the people I've known for years and whose company and friendship I always valued. Yet, the fact remains glaringly, depressingly obvious that I doing my own things and they theirs bring about the situation when, as time goes by, we have less and less in common. And nothing could be done about it short of betraying who we are. |
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