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| QUOTATIONS 2146-2166 |
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| 2146. I never complain about irritating and obnoxious people. As far as I am concerned the more of them around the better. Then it would be easier for them to meet and "enjoy" each other company and leave me alone to seek ones of my own. 2147. One does not acquire wisdom by having each wish fulfilled, each prayer answered. It is taught in the school of "sour grapes," where one learns, through realization of futility of obtaining the desirable, the art of reassessment of its intrinsic value culminating in its rejection as something not worth having. As more and more different objects of desire are subjected to such a "sour grapes" treatment, recalibration of the whole scale of relative importance of things in life occurs, and in the best case scenario brings one to a more realistic world view – the "sour grapes" of experience has miraculously fermented into a sweet wine of wisdom. Of course, the effectiveness of such a school and the utility of its lessons would be vigorously denied by those who equate wisdom with defeatism. And I most sincerely wish them all the luck in the world. As for the rest of us, I firmly believe that many would benefit from taking their studies seriously. And you can trust me –I have an advanced degree from this old and venerable institution, the school of "sour grapes." 2148. As the stoics discovered long time ago, the greatest freedom is a freedom from "wants." And the feeling of freedom must give one the greatest pleasure. Thus the greatest pleasure comes from wanting nothing. Which is a state of the true nirvana. Stoicism is Buddhism spelled differently. 2149. Does clothe define a man or a woman? Almost without exception every 19th-century writer thought this to be true, and many still think so today. Otherwise why would they go to such a length to describe in minute details a sartorial appearance of a newly introduced protagonist. Interestingly enough, the same writers very seldom do it again, as if people never change their clothe, which in real life real people do it all the time, often several times a day. Also, how important are equally minute physical description of each fictional character, i.e. the size and contour of a nose, the color of eyes and hair, the shape of a face, the height and weight, etc? What it has to do with the essence of a man? It is all so superficial, almost like phrenology, a pseudo-science connecting man's intelligence and character with shape and size of his skull. It bespeaks of the deep seated prejudices, of inability to see beyond mere surface, of subscribing to and perpetuating of stereotypes. It distorts reality and diminishes art. 2150. Contrary to the widely held opinion, the real post-war German miracle was not an economic one –Germany before the war was the most technologically advanced country in Europe and the war made it even more pronounced, providing a solid foundation for a quick industrial recovery. It is her swift rehabilitation, the smooth and speedy absolution of her horrendous crimes against humanity that was truly miraculous. And for this Germany has to thank the Cold War of which she was economically, politically and above all socio-psychologically the greatest beneficiary. Thanks to the constant comparisons of how many millions were killed by Hitler's and Stalin's regimes, with Stalin always coming on top, or of what represents the greatest threat to the West, fascism or communism, with communism always taking the first place, the sheer enormity of what Germany has done to the world was made, and intentionally so, to appear less significant than what the victorious Soviet Union was allegedly capable of. As a result, someone not familiar with history could be confused into believing that it was not the Nazi Germany but the Soviet Union who was the greatest war criminal. But by far the most grotesque outcome of this Cold War historical shell game is that now Germany, which was and always will be responsible for extermination of six million Jews, is playing the part of a generous host to the Jewish refuges from rabidly antisemitic Russia. The fact that the Soviet Union was the only European country which emerged after the war with its Jewish population largely intact( territories under German occupation being the glaring exception) has always been too inconvenient and too embarrassing for the Western Cold War warriors to mention. It didn't fit into overall strategy and had to be discarded. The truth is the first casualty of war, and the Cold War was no exception. 2151. The brain may be enough to get something but it is not sufficient for keeping it. For this the brawn is needed. The history of the Jews who were periodically dispossessed by force of what they acquired by smarts is a vivid illustration of this maxim. 2152. The conversation between two individuals possessing different amount of knowledge and/or different intellectual capabilities is inevitably reduced to that of a teacher and a student. That everyone likes to be a teacher is self-evident. But very few would be willing to play a part of a student indefinitely. But the intercourse between two equals, both in knowledge and in intellectual capacity, is even more difficult to maintain. For not having anything to say what the other side doesn't know already quickly becomes boring and tedious for both, unless each enjoys being confirmed in the rightness of his thinking. 2153. Comparing an individual to a book may produce the following derivatives: a) some books are interesting, some not; b)a book may be interesting to one reader but not to another; c)some people may find a book so interesting that they would want to read it again and again; d) others, after reading a book once, discard it and go looking for another one to read; 2154. When writing is done in English an occasionally uncommon sentence structure with a name "Nickolay Gurevich" attached to it automatically exposes a writer as one brought up in a different linguistic environment, to put it mildly. But attach to the same sentence the name of, let say "John Smith," and it is miraculously transformed into an indisputable sign of linguistic daring, creativity, innovation, break through, etc., etc., etc. So, what is in the name? Apparently, as far as syntax is concerned, everything. Since sentence structure has no innate, timeless pattern, but follows the conventions made into "laws" by wide and long usages subject to change over time (read English literature for the last 500 years) anyone who has sufficient audacity to disregard them and manages somehow to convince enough people than he has god given right to do so, puts himself effectively above the "law," and is declared to be at least an original, if not downright genius, provided, of course, he has a "right name." 2155. Being often eager to help the others I'm driven not just by their needs but also by my own inner impulse the source and the nature of which, I have to admit, are not clear to me. But one thing I'm absolutely certain of – I want to do it on my own terms and in a form freely and solely determined by me. Therefore, when asked to do someone else's bidding and in a manner not of my choosing but rather more convenient for the supplicant, I view it as a kind of tyranny of the needy and an imposition on my freedom. 2156. Though more than a few people who've read my writings told me that I deserved a wider audience, it hasn't materialized so far, and I'm beginning to think that, considering my age, it never will. Perhaps the Fates, knowing well who and what I am, understood that a popular acclaim would be detrimental to me as a writer, that it will remove an important incentive to write, i.e. to prove to the world that my anonymity is not fair. And, to be completely honest, I suspect they may be right, since I am not the first artist spurred to creativity by the lack of recognition, and certainly wouldn't be the last. People are often driven to excel by rejection, and perhaps it is one of several ingredients inspiration is made of. 2157. There is The Japan Foundation in Toronto. Its main mission is to promote Japanese culture. For many years I've been coming there and seen a lot of documentaries about the lives of the ordinary people of Japan. My general impression, which may be wrong, is as follows. Japan's is an ancient culture and as such is obsessed with death. But in a very poetic and profound way. And surprisingly without sadness, but with an ever so light touch of melancholy. There is an acceptance, resignation, and in a way celebration of the end of all things. Undoubtedly, the origin of this is in Zen Buddhism, though even more ancient Japanese traditions, especially worshiping of ancestors, must be a part of this attitude toward death as well. In me, as a viewer and an outsider, it always produces a state of peace and tranquility. My soul and mind rest, and I'm transported into a place totally unfamiliar to me, a realm of eternal quietude. 2158. If you have never had a pomegranate, try it. It is better than transcendental meditation–by the time(and it's a long, long time) you're through with it your brain is completely empty. 2159. While criticizing, and rightfully so, this or that politico-economic system for not being particularly accommodating to realization by its individual members of his or hers full potentials, we must keep in mind that in reality only very few and very ambitious of them are preoccupied with such matters. By far the greatest majority of men and women just want to have a good job they can perform well, and to be sufficiently compensated for their efforts to afford them a comfortable living, and whether such a job allows them the realization of their full potentials seldom enters their minds. 2160. Germany came out of 1933-1945 period in its history not just with its cities lying in ruins, but with a shattered idea of what she really was. The long cherished faith in the distinctive superiority of German Kultur was thoroughly tested and found wanting. The supposed inheritors of cultural greatness that was embodied in Goethe, Beethoven and Kant had allowed themselves to be captured, hardly with any resistence, by a gang of semiliterate psychopaths and almost instantaneously remade in their murderous image. How could it have happened is the question the Germans seems to be destined to grapple with for generations to come. However two possible answers have emerged already. a) Maybe the German high culture wasn't so high after all, if it has succumbed so easily to Nazi barbarism, and therefore is nothing to be specially proud of; b) No matter how high culture is it is powerless to protect even such a paragon of European art and science as Germany allegedly was from totalitarian onslaught , and therefore nothing to be specially proud of either. Neither of these answers is obviously very satisfactory to the Germans' self-esteem. But since every nation has to be proud of something to maintain its collective psychological health, perhaps Germans themselves would come up eventually with a better one. 2161. After all the cars are put together on the similar everywhere assembly lines, after all the computers are programmed by the similar everywhere computer languages, after millions and millions of identical objects are made everywhere around the globe by the identical methods what will distinguish one country, one nation, one people from the others is its unique culture, i.e., its music, its literature, its visual arts, etc., etc., etc. For technology cannot help but being universal and easy, especially nowadays, portable. Culture, on the other hand, is like a plant, which being native to one land could not be transplanted to another without a threat to its nature and often to its very existence. 2162. A prisoner, who's spent most of his life in jail, where his every step is prescribed and regimented,thinks that outside his cell lies the world of unlimited freedom. Analogously, people living in the closed societies, without ever having an opportunity to see what it is like in the rest of the world, often imagine it to be a realm of boundless freedom and possibilities. But if and when the door is open and they may finally venture outside and see it for themselves it doesn't take them too long to discover that what they have imagined to be a veritable paradise is actually less, sometimes much less than the shining ideal they believed in all their lives in confinement. Yes, it is better than what they had before, but far from what they've expected. This was the fate of the citizens of Eastern Europe and Soviet Union when "The Wall" collapsed and they were exposed for the first time to the real West, with all its advantages and disadvantages, with all its good and bad sides. A few managed to overcome the "shock of the new" rather quickly and made the best of it. For the others it will probably take longer to adjust, more or less, to the unfamiliar. And some, who knows how many, will never recover from disillusionment and long for the rest of their lives to go back to the nonexisting anymore "cell." 2163. There are many talented people but only a few truly brilliant ones. And though both qualities are often confused, they are essentially different. Talent is deductive by nature. It takes the given and produces its derivatives. Yet, no matter how numerous and how excellent they are but variations of the original. Brilliance, on the other hand, is inductive. It consumes, digest, breathes in what already exists, and then, at some wholly unexpected moment, impelled by some unexplainable force something completely new bursts forth. For genius is not a mere compounder of pre-existing elements, as Joshua Reynolds said, but a catalyst which transforms many old into one new. And imagination is not a memory, it literally creates, as God created the world. To see light in the utter darkness, to know after he knew not, to find order in the vastness makes one to feel akin to God. Also, using the familiar sociological terms describing how different elements coalesce into one, the working of a talent may be compared to that of multiculturalism – every element is neatly classified and filed on separate shelf for future references and easy retrieval, what goes in goes out basically unchanged, while the genius is like a melting pot – everything which goes into it is mixed and boiled under pressure of creative passion until something which never existed before emerges. 2164. Not all angers are created equal. There is a good, i.e. "good for you" anger. It is aroused by mistreatment and denigration at the hand of the others. When expressed openly it restores one's sense of justice, it brings back self-respect. It makes one feel good. And then there is a bad, i.e. "bad for you" anger. It is caused by being forced to compromise one's dignity. It makes one feel more angry with oneself than with those who coerced one to denigrate oneself. It makes one despise oneself and hate the others. It corrupts the soul, it makes one as bad as his tormentors, causing one to wish to do unto them what they have done to him. It makes one feel bad. 2165. Justice is a glue that holds the disparate parts of any human groupings –from a gang of thieves to a state–together. It is also a lubricant that keeps the machinery of society moving. And though there is never enough of justice for its perfect functioning without it no society can exist. The worst of tyrants, the absolutest of monarchs has to maintain not only an appearance but also a minimum of justice, otherwise no amount of brutality and oppression would be enough to keep society from disintegration –justice not only has to be seen but also done. A slave and a slave owner, an oppressed and an oppressor, a subject and a ruler have to believe in and practice, at least on some rudimentary level, justice if they are to coexist. Otherwise they'll destroy each other. Men and women, children and adults, law abiding citizens and hard core criminals, none can do without some form of justice. It is an air to breathe, a water to drink, a food to eat. Without justice there is no communal life, and without communal life there is no life either for a man or an animal. We need each other to survive, and where there are needs justice is needed to regulate them so that everyone gets something, some more, others less, but something enough to live on. 2166. Stream of Consciousness. For some time now I've been doing what I've always dreamt to do. I read the books I like to, I write the books I want to. I am free to do whatever I wish, or wish no more than what I am free to do. And for that I lack neither time nor means. As an individual I've realized almost all my potentials, haven't I? And yet it hasn't brought me inner peace or happiness. Why? The answer seems to be contained in the words "as an individual" but not as a part of the society at large. What I need is the recognition and approval of the others. For though many a philosopher proclaimed through the ages indifference to this, it is apparently an inseparable part of being human. A tree doesn't care what the other trees think of it. But man is not a tree, even though he stands alone. I need my speech to be heard, I need my books to be read. And without this I could not be satisfied. But why? Don't I do what I want to do? Why do I need recognition and approval of the others? They have no power to deny me my freedom of thinking and writing. Am I really free if I need the others to acknowledge it? Is it all vanity and ambition? We can all understand when a starving artist wants to sell his painting to pay rent and to buy food. But what if he is not starving? What if he is actually independently wealthy? Why does he care whether his painting is bought by someone? He enjoyed making it. He presumably like it. What else does he needs? Someone else's approval? But why? If he gives everyone $100, or $200, etc., could he buy their approval? No! So, he has all these money and yet cannot buy the thing he craves the most. Is each of us a god who needs to be worshiped? Of course we all as social animals depend on each other to satisfy our physical needs to survive. But spiritual, emotional, psychological needs, why do we need others to fulfill them? Why can't we be self-reliant within our souls and minds? Could Plato survive without Academy? Or Aristotle without Peripatetics? Or Jesus without the Twelve Apostles? A hermit in a cave, does he need the world to know that he, so and so, is a hermit in a cave? Sure, it is all vanity. But what is vanity? If I get rid of vanity, what remains? Can we be separated? If I have a beautiful voice and enjoy singing, why do I need other people to listen and to know how beautiful my voice is? Why do people perform? For money. But what if they don't need money or not getting paid, and still want to perform, what's driving them? Vanity, ambition, vainglory, egomania. All those negative terms denoting what we all need. And if we all need it why do we despise it, condemn what we long for? Why? Because it's unattainable? Because when finally attained it doesn't bring wished for and expected happiness? But not having it is what makes us unhappy as well. Validation by the others. I'm thought of therefore I exist. The others seems to be the only mirror in which I look for my true image, while self reflection is commonly considered to be unreliably biased. We allow the others to define who we are, while self-definition is considered to be illusory and self-serving. The others are objective, and I am subjective. But is it true? Are the others truly impartial? What about prejudices, envy, dislike of differences, rivalry, inferiority complex?And what do they know about me anyway? |
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