Anna Karenina

And here I am, over with my I-don’t-know-how-many-times rereading of Anna Karenina. I’ve read it in Romanian, in Russian, in English and now in Norwegian. It still remains an absolutely grand book of all times.

Time stands still and yet never stops running. There are things which never change and things which make you realize how fantastic change can be. I suppose one of our biggest accomplishments so far has been our freedom. We have now the liberty of living life just the way we want it, comfort is the prerequisite of a good life.

Even though all characters in the book are representative of the Russian aristocracy of the 19th century, one can clearly see that conventionalities make up the basis of life. There were strict rules to be obeyed if one wanted to be part of the good society. It was especially hard for women, deprived of any freedom of action. I assume one of Tolstoy’s intentions was to illustrate how powerful the conformity with conventional thought and behavior was and how it contravened peoples’ inner feelings and predispositions towards determining their own fate.

It is a deep book, regarding life from all its various facets, asking questions, giving answers from a series of perspectives through each of its characters. It is also a book which makes you realize things you have and must be grateful for, things you do not have and must strive for.

It is indeed one of the greatest novels ever written.

Those who can wait are the winners

I was just reading an article in one of the Norwegian papers about the ability of people to wait. The ability to wait is connected to the ability of succeeding, of achieving better results than those who can’t manage the waiting process. It is also closely linked with our intelligence.

It got me thinking about my own perspective on that. With the years I have come to understand the huge impact the capacity of being patient has on our lives. Nothing can be built in one day and the impulse of seeing immediate results is self-destructive. There are people who have given up on so many things in life only because they could not see beyond the present moment. But immediate gratification represents the easy path most of us would like to be given in life.

What is that one thing which makes us want to go forward, to fight for things, to struggle through difficulties? It is the final image of what we will ultimately be able to have; it is that target which we think would bring us happiness and fulfilment. Nobody can succeed without compelling motivating factors. And come to think of it, it really takes a lot of willpower and courage to envision those final results and be happy to start your walk towards it. Not being able to reach immediate enjoyment whenever we want to do/achieve something makes our chances of succeeding very slim.

And yet there are people who can control their impulse of instant gratification and wait. These are the people who always seem to be the winners. And as it turns out, it also means they are intelligent, more optimistic and better at long-term work. Therefore, people who manage to wait for what the future has to offer, enjoy a happier life in the end.

Beautiful people are happy

All we have to do in life is to always strive towards beauty. Beautiful people are happy. They are happy because they are lovable. Human happiness is reached when we as humans are highly regarded and appreciated. When we emanate beauty there's nothing that can stay in our way towards happiness.

Ernesto Sabato, The Tunnel

My first book read from the first to the last page in Norwegian. I know that the pulse of a book cannot be felt genuinely if not read in its original language, but I thought if I were to read it in translation, then might as well try the Norwegian one. After having read a review on a literary French blog, declaring the book Sabato's best, I decided I must read it.

Firstly, the plot is simple, maybe too simple if it weren't for all the ideas behind it. Love and loneliness. The problems of our time. The plagues of the contemporary world. If we were to identify the meaning of love by the way we give love, very few of us would belong to the category of those who give unconditionally. The conditionality of love is more than a personal characteristic, it is a social formation. And then there's loneliness. We can read in the papers every day how the number of lonely people is increasing, how a better material situation doesn't come together with a good partner in life. Except that many of us just prefer it this way. For many of us loneliness can be a state of being by pure choice. I suppose in this case one calls it solitude.

Secondly, I resonated with the painter (the protagonist) from the very first page; with his disdain for the critics, for the conventions, for the socializing process, for all the masses with their stupid sets of rules which they follow unconditionally in order to be part of the crowd they are so proud of. He has no consideration for the average and is in a perpetual state of discontent. It was enough to draw my attention.

But nothing comes in relative terms when it's about this kind of characters. The extremes are the rules of life, everything is driven beyond its boundaries, making you a sad and hopeful witness in anticipation of the extremity's effects. There's something both positive and negative about loneliness. It teaches you to be independent and strong when facing the cruelties of life, but at the same time it creates a huge abyss between you and the reality. It actually creates two opposing things at the same time: makes you both stronger and vulnerable at the same time. Not being in touch with things makes you unprotected, takes all control from you. Moreover, it alienates you from the majority, which is part of the despised crowd and which follows the rules you can't stand.

Being part of this world implicitly means belonging to a certain society which carries rules its members must comply with. Refusing to obey these rules makes you vulnerable. And this vulnerability brings suffering along. Love has also its general guidelines accepted by the society, they actually help you set certain boundaries to all impulses and instincts humans might have.

But then again, people who refute the conventionality have some cold blood in them, their living is rather self-centered, they are trying to adjust reality to their needs and wishes. Thus, love becomes a necessity of confirming their powerfulness. And there is one irrefutable thing : unconditionality; which means total dedication to their gigantic existence.

Poverty

There is nothing worse in the world than poverty. It is the supreme form of unhappiness. By nature we can live up to our dignity as humans only when we have freedom. The freedom to think and to act. Nothing's more important for us. It is the first premise we must get in order to prove to ourselves and to the world who we are, where we belong and what we deserve.

One of the things that makes me highly indignant is the ignorance of people when it comes to poverty and the devastating effect it has on people. It affects the power of action, which means the poor are almost never fulfilled as personalities, and the power of mind, which means they have no control over what is the path they want to follow intellectually. Lack of freedom in all spheres of life build up a certain net through which the poor are able to see. There are no clear images in front of them, tomorrow is never a secure day and yesterday is never a happy past.

Nothing's more cruel than the inequality we face in life. And the largest part of this cruelty is represented by poor and suffering women worldwide. These days there's a campaign organized by CARE which has the project of helping the poorest women in the world. It made me think about the enormous difficulties women face worldwide, sometimes the basic needs not being met. These women have never known a different life than the one identified with hardships, needs, shortages, worries, misery. They have never experienced the feeling of those who are given things and whose credit comes from taking advantage of them.

We should never be judged by the place we were born in, it is no decision of ours.