Introduction
I read.
A lot.
It's one of my favorite habits and one that I’ve been doing for years. Because of it, every time I think about what kind of ideas I could share here, book reviews come to mind.
The only problem is that I don't like writing reviews. Because of it, I haven't posted anything related to books in this newsletter, even though it's one of the best ways to embrace Métis.
So, I decided to do something different.
You see, when I read a book, I try to have a conversation with the author. I read, highlight and re-write, trying to integrate their ideas into my own.
I'll argue against myself and the author, creating my own "permanent notes", conclusions coming from those dialogues. Some of them present a new idea or argument and make a new note. Others are useful propositions that reinforce the ones that I already have.
Now, all of the ideas are directly correlated with something in the book. In some of them, the connection is obvious. In other ones, the original prompt is completely different from where I ended up in.
I've decided I'll share that process with you, the notes that I get, and the thinking behind them.
To begin, I want to talk about Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
Context on the book
I've written about the book before, in this post, so I'll just copy that introduction.
Italo Calvino is one of the most important Italian authors of the last century. With books such as "Our Ancestors" or "Invisible Cities", Calvino was the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death.
Recently I read "Invisible Cities", a book with 11 different parts, posing a game to the reader.
It presents a conversation between Marco Polo, the Italian explorer and Kublai Khan, the Mongolian emperor. Throughout the story, Marco describes all the different cities he visited, sharing the details with the emperor, while also doing some philosophy along the way.
As a reader, you should try to understand what are the common points among the different cities, ranging from things such as names, signs, relationships with the dead, and much more.
It's not the typical book, but one that needs to be carefully read, searching for these commonalities. Italo himself said:
"The book was made has a polyhedron, it has conclusions everywhere, written along all of its edges".
Calvino uses Marco's descriptions of the different cities to explore different realms of the human experience through the use of metaphors. And that's what I found fascinating.
That being said, here are my notes on the book.
Permanent notes
In any metaphorical journey, whatever we're seeking is in front of us, every time we look into a mirror. We can explore all the cities in the world but what we're seeking is always within.
This idea comes from the way Marco Polo describes his relationship with the past. Kublai asks him: “do you walk always with your head turned backward? Does your journey only happen in the past?”
He then tries to explain that whatever he (Marco) seeks is always in front of him. However, human beings spend so much time in their heads, walking through a corridor filled with memories, that, sometimes, we believe the journey we most seek is the one towards something we don't hold anymore, something in the past.
But even in those cases, Marco would eventually understand that this past is ever-changing, as you go forward in your own path. It's very "mercurial" in that sense. You'll reframe things that happened based on how much you progress.
In fact, only through something that happens in the present, are you able to deeply understand your relationship with the past.
"Arriving at a new city, the traveler rediscovers his past, something he no longer knew he had."
When we arrive at a new place, physically, mentally, and metaphorically, we are blessed with the reminder that even the past we seek is already ours and we can focus our own journey on being present.
"There's no language without mistakes"
This is a direct quote from the book. Here's how I look at it.
Whenever you come up with a specific set of conditions used to describe the world, you're bound to fail to do it with 100% accuracy. It doesn't matter if you're using words, pictures, symbols, sounds...All of these have their failures because it's impossible to fully communicate an idea the way we perceive it within our minds.
All of these different ways to communicate are attempts to convert an internal experience into an outer one, clear enough for the internal experience of those who are listening can somehow resemble ours.
That's hard. Really hard. Hence, language is flawed at its core.
Personally, I believe that's because language is a human creation trying to communicate a divine element: life.
The grass is always greener on the other side. There are infinite gardens though, so, beware.
Calvino uses Marco's descriptions of the different cities to explore different realms of the human experience through the use of metaphors.
One of these cities is called Eutropia, a big city composed of smaller cities within. However, contrary to expected, only one of these small cities actually has people. In this part of Eutropia, people live normal lives, with regular jobs and families. The other parts are uninhabited.
As time passes though, people start to be bored, dreading their day-to-day. When this feeling spreads throughout everyone, they occupy another “city” inside Eutropia and live different lives.
In this new city, everyone assumes a new craft and a new family. The same expressions are repeated through different voices, the same plots and narratives repeat themselves in eternal loops with ever-changing characters.
This “game” is then repeated, over and over again, on this chessboard made of small cities and human whims, fleeting in their nature.
You can always think that there's something better than what you currently have. Aiming at more is a great attitude to have as long as you don't forget to celebrate your own garden.
Any perceivable object in the universe can be described either as a Gestalt or through the individual components. Even though they're different, they're inseparable.
I've written about this one previously. It starts with this quote.
Marco Polo described a bridge, stone by stone.
- But what’s the stone that holds the bridge? - asks Kublain Kan.
- The bridge does not hold due to this or that rock - answered Marco - but due to the line in the arc that they form.
Kublai Kan remained silent, thinking. Then he added:
- Why do you speak to me of stones? It’s the arc that matters.
Marco answered:
- Without stones, there’s no arc.
This small story reminds me of relationships between different perceptions of the same thing.
We’re seeing someone describing the elements of a given object to someone that’s asking about the Gestalt (the conjunction of those same individual elements into a coherent thing).
Any “object” can be described in these 2 ways but they are part of the same thing, different sides of the same coin.
The key here is to understand that they're different and very useful in different contexts. Maybe, in order to explain something to someone for the first you should use Gestalt and as they progressively move into the individual components. Or when thinking about a person, sometimes understanding their identity as a whole is thinking about the different human components (both mental and physical).
Suffering can only exist in this plain of reality since we don't know any other. If Hell is the ultimate manifestation of pain, then, Hell is here. When it comes to facing it, you have 2 options: either accept it and become part of it or, through constant learning and attentiveness, realize the different oases, good and beautiful, that populate it and help them grow.
We can create an idea about Hell, a place where evil lurks.
However, the only plane of reality we know is this one which means that this is the only "space" where we can feel suffering. Hence, Calvino's words: "The hell of living is not something that will exist in the future, if there's one it's the one already here (...)"
Understanding that suffering is a part of our condition is the first step to actually getting free from it by making a conscious effort of looking for things that are not Hell, but actually manifestations of the opposite, beauty, peace...Heaven.
Nietzsche himself, when pointing out this idea of suffering said that to make things as "bearable as possible" one should focus on leading a life with virtues (which are, in themselves, things that promote beauty), not because it gets us to "the salvation of the soul" (his words, not mine) but because it's the way to fight the human condition, Calvino's hell.
That's it!
I really hope you enjoyed this. Please let me know what was your favorite idea.
I'll start publishing more of these as I read more books.
Have a great day,
João