Contemporary life no longer attracts and fascinates as before. A wave of confusion and disenchantment covers the earth. In the back of many minds creeps up a malaise that begs the question: Is there something higher that could provide a profound solution to contemporary problems?
A diffuse longing for something different we cannot define well hangs in the air. Something full of harmony, fed neither by egoistic nor self-seeking ways but by generous and elevated ones.
The accursed gray cloud plaguing Brazil and the world has grown weary. Finding something else that is not roughly the same but runs in the opposite direction is urgent. In this opposite direction, an idealist finds himself when he is genuine.
Purified of all things selfish or noxious, idealism is the opposite of the wave of disenchantment that overwhelms us. It leads to noble sentiments and is available to anyone regardless of social class. But mind you! We are talking about an authentic idealist who fights for real ideals, not about some Che Guevara or other assorted fundamentalists.
For example, newspapers occasionally report that some very poor person has found a wallet with a lot of money and did not rest until it returned to its owner. Without being an aristocrat, that modest person had a noble gesture. How could one not wish for a world where everyone is like that?
Noble! This is a prestigious word, even in this era of democracy. A noble gesture, noble sentiments, noble metals, noble dish, etc., attest to the salience of this term.
The word has peculiarities. There is noble and noble. The noun noble has a very diverse connotation from the adjective. The noun is synonymous with gentleman or aristocrat. For example, it is a suitable word for the few lauded in the book Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. However, the adjective noble is independent of a person’s social level. Even the last of plebeians in the most modest occupation can have a noble sentiment or gesture.
In so doing, he shows nobility of soul and may be an idealist even without knowing the meaning of this word:
“Zeal, conviction, passion and sacrifice are common virtues in the struggle for ideals, and this largely explains the possibility that some cultural change can be stimulated and even initiated by adolescents.” [i] Therefore, true idealism is young at all ages. This flame can be kept alight and should extend throughout life. The so-called “venality of maturity” should be scornfully rejected.
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira noted that
“If a candle could think, its great moment of joy would be when it finally consumes itself in the hands of its holder. It would think: ‘I was created to give light and to do so in the hands of someone with the vocation to carry me. My wick, my wax, my fire, all have burned. I have lived!’” [ii]
The image of the flame and candle is very suitable to represent this illustrious Catholic thinker’s biography. An idealist with nobility of soul, he was especially suited to discuss the topic.
All excerpts transcribed below, with brief introductions conveniently marked by a distinctive graphical presentation, are his.
Notes:
[i] Commitee on Adolescence of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (USA), Dinâmica da adolescência, Ed. Cultrix, São Paulo, 2nd ed., 1974, pp. 105-107.
[ii] Jan. 2, 1994.