Sublime

Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.

Now imagine this isn’t an experiment but the shape of a life: instead of waiting for a ball to come your way in a silly game of catch, you’re waiting for anyone to call or drop by or speak your name. You can’t even express it, but you’re hungering for some sign that you are known.

c’est « un homme » qui s’y exprime, comme disait Pascal, et pas seulement « un auteur » ! Cette philosophie à la première personne, que j’ai appelée l’ego-philosophie, reste fidèle à la tradition socratique. Il s’agit de « se connaître soi-même, explique Pascal : quand cela ne servirait pas à trouver le vrai, cela au moins sert à régler sa vie, et

ordinary life was your highest good—you needed to attend to your own flourishing first.23

Agostinho Boscán, Christmas 1934: ‘We never love anyone. Not really. We only love our idea of another person. It is some conception of our own that we love. We love ourselves, in fact.’

He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

This shift from group to individual is linked to a shift in responsibility. I can have everything I want as long as I come off best in the struggle for life — and that’s my responsibility.

No, it is “you and I.” When there are two people, society emerges in their presence, and community emerges there too.