Sybil, or Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List, in the State of The Nation section - 9 out of 10

 

Sybil, or Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List, in the State of The Nation section

9 out of 10

 

 

We like to think that we have made incredible progress, through the centuries, and indeed, if we think mobile phones, vaccines (though not for the conspiracy theories enthusiasts), travel, then we are so far even from the decades pat, and yet, take Benjamin Disraeli and the magnificence he represents and compare him with…

 

Orange Jesus, Sunak and so many others, and you must be appalled, for Disraeli has been a Prime Minister, not just once, but twice, and wrote this marvelous work, and overall, proved that he was an intellectual without equal on the scene of the world today, where you see multiple monsters, and few decent humans

In Sybil, the author proves that he was concerned with the situation of the working classes, the destitution, squalor in which they lived, he was interested in Chartism, and he exposes injustice, Two Nations would stand for the privileged and, in contrast, those who could barely put food on the table, and suffered a lot

 

This is not a communist doctrine – Engels published the Conditions of The Working Class in 1844, the same year in which Two Nations was sent to the printer – for if it were, I would reject it – at the end of the note there is a standard paragraph, in which I brag about my participation in the 1989 Revolution, when Ceausescu was shot

We have had communism here, and it is gruesome, as George Orwell https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/nineteen-eighty-four-by-george-orwell.html described, with Big Brother watching you all the time, double speak, propaganda, shortages, lies, brain washing, and what you see in North Korea

 

Animal Farm, just like Nineteen Eighty Four, shows the truth behind the theories – ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’, four legs good, two legs bad, the sleeping in bed and all the rest, with the vile pigs, violent police dogs, and the accurate description of what we have lived through in such societies https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/animal-farm-by-george-orwell-magnum.html

There is a fallacy, mentioned the other day at the Downtown Sauna, which says that ‘intellectuals are Marxists’, but, if they have sympathy for the left, and not all do, then it is a penchant for socialist, social democratic doctrines, the likes of which we see in Scandinavia, where things have changed lately, with far right more prominent

Nevertheless, Scandinavia is still a role model, Finland has just been declared the happiest country in the world, and then it is followed by Denmark (number one itself for some years), The Netherlands (where my daughter, Hannah, lives), and other realms from that area, which benefits from a smaller difference between The Two Nations

 

There are differences in income and wealth, like everywhere in the world, but the Nordic countries have a privileged class that does not live in the financial stratosphere, and the high taxes ensure that social benefits are distributed, and the less off do not have to look at the very fortunate and see a disgusting display of benefits

Mencken said ‘ Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband…’ and one source of unhappiness is coveting, wishing for what the other has…The Stoics warned about that https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/despre-viata-fericita-aka-on-happy-life.html

 

Also, you could read The How of Happiness and find ‘Happiness Activity No 3: Avoid Over thinking and Social Comparison- using strategies such as distraction to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself with others…’ because there is also The Hedonic Adaptation Effect to consider

The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html was written by Sonja Lyubomirsky and another classic in that same vein is Stumbling On Happiness by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, who exposes the Myths of Happiness, we think we would be happy, if only we moved to some other place

 

Nevertheless, once people move to California, Caribbean, a Pacific, Greek island or the like, The Hedonic Adaption Effect implies that they adapt to the palms, good weather, but they hate the hurricanes, exorbitant prices in places, the power blackouts, because we get used with almost everything, except some catastrophes

https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html reading this book and others, in the field of positive psychology, one can learn the rules, try and change the pie chart, with activities and rituals ‘excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, Aristotle said that and we need to consider the Talmud…

 

which explains ‘be careful with your thoughts, because they become words, be careful with your words, because they become acts, be careful with the acts, because they become habits, be careful with your habits, because they become character, and character is you’ so if we apply these norms, we can reach the garden of Eden

the positive, optimistic human beings live longer, have better professional and private lives, they get sick less often, and when they do, it is a milder version, that keeps them off for shorter periods, there are a multitude of benefits…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”