Fear, don't be afraid of the challenge of laughter

Charlene 2022-03-22 09:01:49

Laughter does not dispel fear; joy does not obscure sadness. To believe because of fear, belief is based on human sensibility; in order to defend belief, it stifles laughter, and sensibility relies on turning against oneself. Old George's mistake was his unwillingness to use reason to inquire into the truth of fear and hope. Laughter can dissolve fear, sadness and despair, but can laughter be the foundation of life? Old George said that laughter makes people forget their fears. He has grasped the key: laughter is a cover for fear.

For life, fear is the primary color, the essence of life. Not just fear, life is the sum total of a series of negative meanings of sadness and despair. Because a being cannot be a god, she cannot think about herself in eternal serenity, but must sink into endless motion—the essence of life is a lack.

Laughter, joy, hope, these positive values ​​can only temporarily obscur the dark nature of life. A man who can exercise reason will never be overshadowed. "Don't let yourselves be deceived! If you believe that you see some solid land on the sea of ​​becoming and passing, it is only in your hasty gaze, not in the nature of things."

If old George could face it To the question of laughter deconstructing fear and belief, he should seek the answer like a scholastic philosopher, using reason to prove that fear is a higher existence than laughter. But then he must overthrow two of the three virtues of Christianity: despair rather than hope, and fear and disgust rather than love. He would become a Manichaeus philosopher.

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The Name of the Rose quotes

  • William of Baskerville: I too was an Inquisitor, but in the early days, when the Inquisition strove to guide, not to punish. And once I had to preside at a trial of a man whose only crime was to have translated a Greek book that conflicted with the Holy Scriptures. Bernardo Gui wanted him condemned as a heretic; I - acquitted the man. Then Bernardo Gui accused *me* of heresy, for having defended him. I appealed to the Pope. I - I was put in prison, tortured, and... and I recanted.

    Adso of Melk: What happened then?

    William of Baskerville: The man was burned at the stake and I am still alive.

  • William of Baskerville: The only evidence I see of the antichrist here is everyones desire to see him at work.