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Living in hell without becoming devils (quotes of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy)

"Так же, как мы не можем погасить огонь огнем или высушить воду водой, мы не можем искоренить насилие насилием".
"Just as we cannot extinguish the fire with fire or dry water with water, we cannot eliminate violence with violence."
"Così come non possiamo spegnere il fuoco con il fuoco o asciugare l'acqua con l'acqua, non possiamo eliminare la violenza con la violenza".

Tolstoy (Francesco Galgani's art, March 25, 2022, based on the original lithograph print)

следующие фразы из: Лев Николаевич Толстой. Путь жизни (1910)
the following phrases from: Leo Tolstoy. The Way of Life (1910)
le seguenti frasi da: Leo Tolstoy. Il modo di vivere (1910)

«Сказать, что люди не равны, все равно что сказать, что огонь в печи, на пожаре, в свече не равен между собой. В каждом человеке живет дух Божий. Как же мы можем делать различие с носителями одного и того же духа Божия? Один огонь разгорелся, другой только разгорается, но огонь один, и ко всякому огню мы относимся одинаково.»

«To say that men are not equal is like saying that the fire in the furnace, in the fire, in the candle is not equal among themselves. The spirit of God lives in every person. So how can we make a distinction with bearers of the same spirit of God? One fire is kindled, another is only kindled, but the fire is one, and to every fire we treat the same.»

«Dire che le persone non sono uguali è come dire che il fuoco nella fornace, nel fuoco, nella candela non è uguale tra loro. Lo spirito di Dio vive in ogni persona. Allora come possiamo fare una distinzione con i portatori dello stesso spirito di Dio? Si accende un fuoco, se ne accende un altro, ma il fuoco è uno solo, e ad ogni fuoco si fa lo stesso trattamento».

«Отказаться от насилия не значит, что нужно отказаться и от охраны жизни и трудов своих и других людей, а значит только, что охранять все это надо так, чтобы охрана эта не была противна разуму и любви. Охранять жизнь и труды людей и свои нужно тем, чтобы стараться пробудить в нападающем злодее добрые чувства. А для того, чтобы человек мог это сделать, надо, чтобы он сам был добр и разумен. Если я вижу, например, что один человек намерен убить другого, то лучшее, что я могу сделать, это поставить самого себя на место убиваемого и защитить, накрыть собою человека и, если можно, спасти, утащить, спрятать его, - все равно как я стал бы спасать человека из пламени пожара или утопающего: либо самому погибнуть, либо спасти. Если же я не могу этого сделать, потому что я сам заблудший грешник, то это не значит то, что я должен быть зверем и, делая зло, оправдывать себя.»

«To renounce violence does not mean that one must give up guarding one's own and other people's lives and works, but only that one must guard all these things in such a way that this guarding is not contrary to reason and love. It is necessary to guard people's lives and works and one's own in order to try to awaken good feelings in the attacking villain. And in order for a person to be able to do this, it is necessary that he himself be good and reasonable. If I see, for example, that one person intends to kill another, the best thing I can do is to put myself in the place of the murdered person and protect, cover the person with myself and, if possible, save, drag away, hide him, just as I would save a man from the flames of a fire or a drowning man: either to die or to save him. But if I cannot do this because I myself am a lost sinner, it does not mean that I must be a beast and, in doing evil, justify myself.»

«La rinuncia alla violenza non significa che si deve rinunciare a custodire la propria e l'altrui vita e le proprie opere, ma solo che si deve custodire tutte queste cose in modo tale che questa custodia non sia contraria alla ragione e all'amore. È necessario proteggere la vita e le opere delle persone e la propria per cercare di risvegliare i buoni sentimenti nell'aggressore. Per poterlo fare, bisogna essere gentili e ragionevoli. Se vedo, per esempio, che un uomo intende ucciderne un altro, allora la cosa migliore che posso fare è mettermi al posto dell'assassinato e proteggerlo, coprirlo e se posso salvarlo, trascinarlo via, nasconderlo, - come salverei un uomo dalle fiamme del fuoco o un uomo che sta annegando: o essere ucciso o essere salvato. Ma se non posso farlo perché io stesso sono un peccatore perso, non significa che devo essere una bestia e, facendo il male, giustificarmi».

«Было большое собрание людей, больше тысячи, в большом театре. В середине представления один глупый человек вздумал пошутить и крикнул одно слово: "Пожар!" Народ бросился к дверям. Все столпились, давили друг друга, и, когда опомнились, было раздавлено насмерть 20 человек и больше 50 поранено. Такое великое зло может сделать одно глупое слово. Тут, в театре, видно зло, которое сделало одно глупое слово, но часто бывает, что вред глупого слова хотя и не сразу виден, как в театре, а делает понемногу и незаметно еще больше зла.»

«There was a large gathering of people, over a thousand, in a large theater. In the middle of the performance, one silly man made a joke and shouted one word: "Fire!" The people rushed to the doors. Everyone crowded together, crushed each other, and when they came to their senses, 20 people were crushed to death and more than 50 were injured. Such a great evil can be done by one stupid word. Here, in the theater, you can see the evil that one stupid word has done, but it often happens that the harm of a stupid word, though not immediately visible as in the theater, does little by little and imperceptibly more evil.»

«C'era un grande raduno di persone, più di mille, in un grande teatro. Nel mezzo dello spettacolo un uomo stupido fece uno scherzo e gridò una parola: "Fuoco!" La gente si precipitò alle porte. Tutti si sono accalcati, si sono schiacciati a vicenda e quando sono tornati in sé, 20 persone sono state schiacciate a morte e più di 50 sono rimaste ferite. Un male così grande può essere fatto da una parola stupida. Qui, nel teatro, si può vedere il male che ha fatto una parola stupida, ma spesso accade che il danno di una parola stupida, anche se non immediatamente visibile, come nel teatro, fa a poco a poco e inosservato ancora più male».

«Легко переносить горе, когда оно не от людей, а от болезней, пожаров, наводнений, землетрясений. Но особенно больно бывает человеку, когда он страдает от людей, от братьев. Он знает, что людям надо бы любить его, а вот они вместо этого его мучают. "Люди, все люди ведь то же, что я, - думает такой человек. - Зачем же они мучают меня?" От этого-то и бывает легче переносить горе от болезней, пожаров, засух, чем от недоброты людей.»

«It is easy to bear grief when it is not from people, but from diseases, fires, floods, earthquakes. But it is especially painful for a man when he suffers from people, from his brothers. He knows that people should love him, but they torment him instead. "People, all people are the same as I am," thinks such a person. - "Why do they torment me?" That is why it is easier to bear the sorrow of diseases, fires, and droughts than the unkindness of people.»

«È facile sopportare il dolore quando non proviene da persone, ma da malattie, incendi, inondazioni, terremoti. Ma è particolarmente doloroso per un uomo quando soffre a causa della gente, dei suoi fratelli. Sa che la gente dovrebbe amarlo e invece lo tormenta. "La gente, tutta la gente è come me", pensa una tale persona. - "Perché mi tormentano?". Ecco perché è più facile sopportare il dolore delle malattie, degli incendi, della siccità, che la scortesia della gente».

«Все беды людей не от неурожая, не от пожаров, не от злодеев, а только от того, что они живут врозь. А живут они врозь потому, что не верят тому голосу любви, который живет в них и влечет их к единению.»

«All people's troubles are not from bad harvests or fires or villains, but only from the fact that they live apart. And they live apart because they do not believe the voice of love that lives in them and draws them to unity.»

«Tutte le disgrazie della gente non sono dovute a cattivi raccolti, a incendi o a cattive persone, ma solo al fatto che vivono separati. E vivono separati perché non credono alla voce dell'amore che vive in loro e li attira all'unità.»

Una umanità nuova

«Noi esseri umani abbiamo delle qualità, ma queste possono emergere solo insieme agli altri.
Da soli neanche esistiamo.»

Il Potere, mediante la società della tecnica e dei consumi, ha trasformato gli individui in profondità, li ha toccati nell’intimo cambiando loro l'anima, una sorta di illusione ottica della coscienza, ha dato loro altri modi di vivere e di pensare, altri modelli culturali, un altro linguaggio imposto dalla dittatura del pensiero unico funzionale al sistema dominante.

Un fascismo imprevedibilmente nuovo ha in pochi anni deformato e degradato la coscienza degli individui, complice la manipolazione artificiale delle idee con cui il capitalismo della sorveglianza sta esercitando un nuovo potere tecnocratico che si basa su una falsa libertà concessa dall'alto, falsa perché è revocabile ogni qualvolta il Potere ne senta il bisogno, dichiarando una emergenza dopo l'altra senza soluzione di continuità.

La nuova forma di fascismo è una riorganizzazione totalitaria di un mondo senza pace, più subdola e insidiosa, dove la norma è l'isolamento, l'alienazione (separazione dal sé e dall'altro), lo scontro tra uomini egoisti e bellicosi, sempre in continua competizione tra loro, uomini che sfruttano altri uomini ridotti a semplice flusso di dati senz'anima.

Per trasformare questa realtà, c'è bisogno di un uomo nuovo capace di una liberazione interiore, di un mutamento di stato della coscienza, mettendo in discussione il proprio Io egoico-bellico, che libera l'uomo da una individualità separata da tutto il resto, riscoprendo la propria natura universale.

Un uomo in grado di incarnare un senso di nostalgia del possibile, nostalgia di ciò che ancora non è stato ma potrebbe essere. Uno spirito libero capace di trascendere la realtà, realizzando così diversi possibili modi di essere uomo, essere quel che è possibile diventare, facendo pace con la vita.

Una nuova umanità, dove quello che conta sono le relazioni reciproche tra le parti, conoscere ed accogliere la vita nell'unità degli opposti, cioè definire le cose per opposizione, in una visione (com)unitaria della realtà.
La vita è un continuo ricominciare...

Giulio Ripa

у нас есть то, что нельзя уничтожить

Моё впечатление такого, что разрушительные силы сейчас захватили власть повсюду.
Кажется, ничто не мешает и не останавливает их.
Мы единственные, кто остался, чтобы сохранить возможность достойного будущего, потому что у нас есть то, что нельзя уничтожить.

Impresia mea este că forțele distructive au pus stăpânire peste tot.
Nimic nu pare să le împiedice sau să le oprească.
Noi suntem singurii care au mai rămas pentru a menține în viață posibilitatea unui viitor demn, pentru că avem ceea ce nu poate fi distrus.

My impression is that destructive forces have now taken over everywhere.
Nothing seems to be hindering or stopping them.
Only we are left to keep alive the possibility of a worthy future since we have what cannot be destroyed.

La mia impressione è che le forze distruttive abbiano ormai ovunque preso il potere.
Sembra che niente le stia ostacolando o fermando.
Siamo rimasti solo noi a lasciare viva la possibilità di un degno futuro, giacché abbiamo ciò che non può essere distrutto.

Gabbiani
(March 11, 2022, go to my art gallery)

In today's time of war, a prayer from millennia ago

In today's time of war, a prayer from millennia ago (Francesco Galgani's art, February 27, 2022)MP3 Audio

Oṃ
Saṃgacchadvaṃ saṃvadadhvam / saṃ vo manāṃsi jānatām /
Devā bhāgaṃ yathā pūrve / saṃjānānā upāsate /
Samāno mantraḥ samitiḥ samāni / samānaṃ manaḥ saha cittam eṣām /
Samānaṃ mantramabhi mantraye vaḥ / samānena vo haviṣā juhomi /
Samānī va ākūtiḥ samānā hṛdayāni vaḥ /
Samānam astu vo manaḥ yathā vaḥ susahāsati /

Meet together, talk together, let your minds apprehend alike; in like manner as the ancient gods concurring accepted their portion of the sacrifice.
Common be the prayer of these (assembled worshippers), common be the acquisition, common the purpose, associated be the desire. I repeat for you a common prayer, I offer for you with a common oblation.
Common, (worshippers), be your intention; common be (the wishes of) your hearts; common be your thoughts, so that there may be thorough union among you.

Venite insieme, parlate insieme! In accordo siano le vostre menti, come in passato gli dei sedettero insieme per la rispettiva parte!
Comune sia la parola sacra, comune l’assemblea!
Comune sia la mente con il loro pensiero!
Io santifico questa vostra parola comune, io sacrifico con la comune oblazione!
Comune sia il vostro proposito, comuni i vostri cuori!
Comune sia la vostra mente affinché siate felicemente concordi.

(Ṛgveda, 10.191.2-3-4, source of the English translation)

The truth will set you slave

The word "slave" may be considered dehumanizing. Still, in my opinion, this painful word is the most appropriate to refute the biblical verse: "The truth will set you free."

My impression is that "the truth makes us slaves," incarcerating us in a tight cage from which it is challenging to get out. This slavery is more concrete when our idea of truth is fused and confused with our identity.

From this point of view, we need neither masters to follow nor religions to practice. We only need to reunify our Consciousness and listen to it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

Each so-called "life master" has had their own life experience, which is precisely theirs, not ours. We should never try to conform our Consciousness to that of a group or a master, nor should we replace our Consciousness with that of someone else.

Masters of different cultures and eras describe experiences that are often universal. They tell what each of us has already experienced, or will experience, because all roads lead to Rome.

See also: "We slaves of truth (Plato's allegory of the cave, revisited)."

The truth will set you slave (Francesco Galgani's art, January 27, 2022)
(January 27, 2022, go to my art gallery)

Asymptomatic intelligence

We know that something exists because it shows us concrete evidence of its existence.
To admit that something can exist without any obvious sign is an act of faith or an ideology.
From this point of view, we can admit that anything exists.

E.g., if it is sunny outside and the sky is clear, we can say that there is an asymptomatic thunderstorm.

If a person is underweight, we can say that they are asymptomatically obese.

If a person is needy, we can say they are an asymptomatic billionaire.

And so on.

What can we say about our intelligence? Is it symptomatic or asymptomatic?

(January 9, 2022)

We slaves of truth (Plato's allegory of the cave, revisited)

We slaves of truth (Francesco Galgani's art, January 3, 2022)
(We slaves of truth, January 3, 2022, go to my art gallery)

Truth is iridescent, elusive. At the exact moment we believe we possess it, it owns us. We become its slaves and are even willing to die for it: all the martyrs of the world know something about it.

We all create a reality for ourselves because we need it to live. When we don't like it anymore, we make another one. More or less, it's like when a person abjures their religion and converts to another one. But all this does not change the primary problem: reality is personal, subjective, temporary, and arbitrary. Above all, we are slaves to it.

To make a comparison, it's like a mathematical problem. If we replace one variable with another in an expression, we get another expression utterly equivalent to the original one. So, in life, if we replace one religion with another or one reality with another, the starting problem remains the same: we are slaves to our imaginary creations.

Reality creations are rarely exclusively the work of the individual. They are usually creations within a group.

All this could make us rethink Plato's cave allegory from a new point of view: the person who comes out of the cave is as deluded as the people who remain inside the cave.

The person who comes out of the cave feels the need to create a new reality: for that reason, they search and find it. But the new truth is not more accurate than the previous one was: both realities (inside and outside the cave) coexist and are equally valid. The only thing that has changed is the person's level of awareness because an effort has produced a change.

The journey of awareness and research could continue until we discover that the reality outside the cave is another illusion. There is another reality to find. And so on.

All this leads to a new question: what changes from being a slave to one reality rather than another?

As Thomas' Theorem says: «If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.»

(January 3, 2022)

Don't ever think of a goal. If you're devoted to the process, something will come out, something more beautiful than you imagined

Official Website of Sadhguru

Two videos on how to realize our potential, with Italian subtitles

DOWNLOAD MP4

DOWNLOAD MP4

Quid est veritas?

Plato's Allegory of the Cave
(Plato's Allegory of the Cave)

"Est enim verum index sui et falsi," Baruch de Spinoza wrote. It means: "Since the truth is the touchstone of itself and of the untruth." Furthermore: "Sane sicut lux se ipsam et tenebras manifestat, sic veritas norma sui et falsi est", that is: "Indeed as light reveals itself and darkness, so the truth is the norm of itself and of untruth." (source)

Truth stands on its own, while lies can stand if they find accomplices.

Lying means betraying both others and ourselves. Telling the truth frees us, helps us to live together and learn from our mistakes. No one is infallible, and everyone has the right to make mistakes: the important thing is to admit them, accept our responsibilities, without alibis or excuses that first seem to make us feel better, but in the long run wear us down. Lies may seem like easy and straight paths, but that inevitably leads to a dead end.

The truth stands on its own, the lie needs the constant support of lie upon lie, but it's only a matter of time before it ends up collapsing under its weight. Behind a lie, there is always something unresolved that drags on for a long time, losing pieces along the way and making us lose the right direction.

Political communication is a continuous lie. The lie needs violence and blackmail (even psychological) to impose a false truth. Is our communication better than political communication?

Whoever tells the truth does not need to repeat themselves, justify themselves, or impose their vision of things. The truth is enough for itself and does not need to proselytize since it is evident to anyone who wants to see it.

Lies, on the contrary, need continuous repetitions, justifications, suggestions, influencing, and impositions: this is the policy of the state, of religion, of scientism, of social networks, of school, and also that of many of us. Socrates would never have thought of setting up fake news commissions.

The truth I've talked about so far corresponds to what the ancient Greeks called "ἀλήθεια" (the state of not being hidden, the state of being evident). This word is reminiscent of Plato's allegory of the cave. In this sense, truth exists and is apparent only to those who want to see it.

However, the truth is never absolute. What is true is so because our awareness makes it so here and now, into the fleeting moment. Wanting to grasp the truth is like wishing to catch the water of a river with our own hands.

(December 24, 2021)

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