Se solo imparassimo a vedere

"Dostoevsky’s next great book, The Idiot, takes off from his near-death experience before the firing squad. In the novel, he recounts what it was like. Three minutes before his expected death he is able to see life clearly for the first time.

He notices the gilded spire of a nearby church, and how it glitters in the sun. He’d never before realised how entrancing a glint of sunlight could be. He is filled with an immense, deep love of the world. 

You might see a beggar and think how you would love to change places with them so as to be able to continue to breathe the air and feel the wind – merely to exist seems (at that moment of final revelation) infinitely precious. And then the revised order comes and it is not over at all.

What would it be like to go through one’s whole life in such a state of gratitude and generosity? You wouldn’t share any of the normal attitudes. You’d love everyone equally, you’d be enchanted by the simplest things, you’d never feel angry or frightened. 

You would seem to other people to be a kind of idiot. Hence the title of the book.

It’s an extreme version of a very interesting step. We’re continually surrounded by things which could delight us, if only we saw them the right way, if only we could learn to appreciate them. Dostoevsky was desperate to communicate the value of existence before death would overtake him – and us".

THE BOOK OF LIFE

Fyodor Dostoevsky.


E invece troppo spesso impariamo a conoscere il valore delle esperienze e delle persone quando le abbiamo perdute. Credo che solo rallentando i nostri ritmi di vita possiamo imparare a vedere davvero. Vedremmo, credo, tutto quell'invisibile che quando perdiamo ci viene a mancare terribilmente e che richiede a volte molti anni per essere ricostruito o ritrovato.