Mariana > Mariana's Quotes

“To escape from the grasp of contemporary ruling ideas, one should study history. The lives of other men in other lands in other ages teach us to realise that our “eternal laws” and infallible ideas are just abortions. Take a step further, imagine mankind living elsewhere than on this earth, and all our terrestial eternalities lose their charm.”
― Lev Shestov, All Things are Possible

“The man who has drunk the bitter cup of such wisdom, who has awakened form the illusory reality of himself and the world, is taken over by melancholy because the desires that drove his passions have died; as a result, if he wants to come back to life, to breathe, to act, there is only one route he can take: he must free himself from his science such that he conceives that his salvation lies in «non-knowledge».”
― Mirko Integlia, Tormented by god. The mystic nihilism of Emil Cioran

“Heresy is also healthy because it awakens official religion from its slumbers: «it represents the sole responsibility of reinvigorating men’s consciences, that by shaking them up it preserves them from the sluggishness into which conformism plunges them».”
― Mirko Integlia, Tormented by god. The mystic nihilism of Emil Cioran

“For Cioran, existence is a «metaphysical exile and Plotinus is right when he writes that in this life we feel like “the soul that has lost its wings”». We cannot love birth when its main purpose is to lead us to our coffin. This is why melancholy is the quintessential metaphysical feeling: «On the Santander mountains, in the midst of a magnificent landscape, some cows had a sad expression, according to my friend Núnez Morante. “Why are they sad?” I say to him. They have everything I dream of: silence, the sky […]. “They are sad because they are, por ser”, he replied».”
― Mirko Integlia, Tormented by god. The mystic nihilism of Emil Cioran