On Vanity aka De la Vanite by Michel de Montaigne, his essays have been included on The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, I have a few notes on some of these brilliant thoughts at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/letters-and-essays-of-montaigne-volume.html and other reviews - 10 out of 10

 

On Vanity aka De la Vanite by Michel de Montaigne, his essays have been included on The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, I have a few notes on some of these brilliant thoughts at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/letters-and-essays-of-montaigne-volume.html and other reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

The essays of Michel de Montaigne are so wonderful helpful, substantive, meaningful that my plan is to continue reading them for the foreseeable future, in small installments, a few pages this morning, some more on Monday, next week, so tat the pleasure lasts and the wisdom has time to sink in, Insha’Allah, with patience

 

One major advantage is that they make us think, as opposed to some other oeuvres that fail to stimulate the under signed -one recent example is The Transit of Venus https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-transit-of-venus-by-shirley-hazzard.html one of the important works…

Actually, one of the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, but which failed to keep me on track, never mind to think seriously, now, Montaigne is another story altogether, earlier I was thinking that there are some paradoxes though, and his quoting of Seneca, other luminaries from ancient days could puzzle a modern reader

 

Take Vanity, there could be a fine line between being pompous, arrogant and vain, and too modest, indeed, I am struggling with some of those concepts and the encouragement one gets from one side to be happy with what you have, and the urge to seek for more from another book, or source of Sagesse, allegedly

The epitome of vanity is Orange Jesus, betting houses have him with two chances in one of winning next week’s election, which may be the Armageddon, though let us not be realistic, let us settle for just being Panglossian https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/12/candide-or-optimist-by-voltaire.html stating that it will all be fine

 

We have the definition of paradigm in a superb Booker Prize Winner, in which the protagonist, Vernon God Little, is an adolescent and he has to hear this: imagine you enter a room, and a stranger has his finger up your grannie’s ass, what do you think, and the answer is I want to kill the bastard, but then there is a twist

You see that this unknown man overcame his nausea to save your dear relative, what about now, well, he is my hero and then this is a paradigm shift for you https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/12/candide-or-optimist-by-voltaire.html the fantastic work, especially in the first part, was written by DBC Pierre and it is a favorite of mine

 

Then we have the precepts of stoicism and what modern self-help books teach us, also psychology, the positive kind in particular, what do we do, do we show pride, have hope, or just stay modest, humble, and accept whatever the fate offers, ‘wish for what you already have is essential for Stoics and Buddhists alike

The answer is in Aristotle  https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html on The Golden Mean, virtue is in the middle, on either side we have vice, say munificence – it is not giving away all you have, so that family and all are left paupers, neither being a miser, like me, would be the answer

 

Now, I was reading earlier from Karen Armstrong, the ultimate expert on religion, and she was explain how yoga would be approached, it is not the physical feast – by the way, look at what I can do here  http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world and tell me if you have any idea

Maybe we can make a million bucks with this, and we find a way to share, if you are an agent, know somebody, have the plan for what can be done, it is an invention of mine, at least third of it, the lotus and the head posture are from Yoga, but then I added my own contribution, so what about selling an ad, or more…

 

I eat this, drink that other, use a service and then boom, I am able to do magic, which is the exercise at the link, however, I have tried to get a reaction and had zero, so why am I wasting my time here, well, because at this very moment, they may know about the future at the company, which is in dire straits now

My senior partner, who has 70% to my 14%, is meeting a fellow who handles investments, maybe intermediary for buying, and we will see, the products we import from Germany are not selling well (or at all) any more, so there needs to be a way out, or else, no more writing for you, but just some work at the mall

 

And in the meantime, I am trying to sell that invention, without any effect – 50 Cent was at the sauna downtown, all dressed, shoes in his feet, and I was thinking I should do this think at the link, so that the singer would see me and maybe take me on his team, and pay good dollars for it, except my buddy stopped me

Anyway, one week later, there is Christ Hemsworth, at the same gym, in the center, coincidence, and then there is only this place with facilities, and I do my trick, gig, next to the treadmill, he sees it, but no invitation, like ‘I know somebody man, and I will tell him about you, you will be on stage, or something’ nothing of the kind

It looks like I did not concentrate much on Vanity, just because I am vain, and concerned with the menacing situation, gas expensive, German things unaffordable and what will we do, some answer maybe in store just about now, at 2pm, today, but I will return to Montaigne, the plan is to read and comment on him, for months to come

 

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.”