The Trouble With Being Born: Unexpected Optimism From His Aphorisms
Emil Cioran’s, The Trouble With Being Born can convey a bitter ambiance; he speaks of the beauty of death and the benefits of not existing. While breaking down the meanings of these aphorisms, I found a sense of optimism from the pessimist. In the seven aphorisms I pulled from the book, he speaks of internal and external suffering, outsourced inspiration, the benefit of enemies, the importance of expressing joy and the necessity of appreciating your accomplishments. I hope you are enlightened by my interpretations of his work and that it broadens your perspective of our daily misfortunes.
1) Imaginary pains are by far the most real we suffer since we feel a constant need for them and invent them because there is no way of doing without them.
How can you truly have joy if you haven’t endured suffering? For the people that don’t endure much misfortune, they go beyond their means to feel the sensation of pain in efforts to bring value into their lives. Has there ever been a great book or movie that has held your attention without conflict? The conflict is what makes you truly appreciate the resolution of the work; learn from your misfortunes and grow from them.
2) As long as you live on this side of the terrible, you will find words to express it, once you know it from the inside, you will no longer find a single one.
From the outside perspective of a terrible situation, one might have many opinions about the person involved (not knowing anything, just basing everything on assumptions.) But once that person is on the inside (dealing with the conflict personally), they don’t want to categorize themselves in the same situation; it’s belittling. This is a life lesson on judgment and why you should never look down on anyone’s situation. You won’t truly understand it unless you have dealt with it, and you should always be mindful of that.
3) What makes bad poets worse is that they read only poets (just as bad philosophers read only philosophers), whereas they would benefit much more from a book of botany or geology. We are enriched only by frequenting disciplines remote from our own. This is true, of course, only for realms where the ego is rampant.
A rampant ego means the person's self-importance/worth is spreading at an uncontrollable rate. Those who believe themselves to be in the upper hierarchy of their field won’t benefit from studying those who share the same practice. So an outside source would be the only thing that would allow expansion. But strong ego or not, I believe everyone should gain inspiration from multiple sources. That’s what keeps originality alive!
4) “An enemy is as useful as a Buddha.” Exactly, for our enemy watches over us, keeps us from letting ourselves go. By indicating, by divulging our least weakness, he leads us straight to our salvation, moves heavens and earth to keep us from being unworthy of his image of us. Hence our gratitude to him should be boundless.
Our enemies encourage us to move forward and prevail. They ensure us that our successes are just as important as our failures. In some cases, they exploit our weakness and it’s our job to capitalize and be thankful that we have harsh critiques other than our own to build from. The “image” he speaks of is a representation of our skill set and it serves as a constant reminder of what we have the potential to become.
5) No one exclaims he is feeling well and that he is free, yet this is what all who know this double blessing should do. Nothing condemns us more than our incapacity to shout our good luck.
Be proud of the things you’ve accomplished, and think of your accomplishments as often as you think of your misfortunes and failures. If we were to accept the blessings in our lives and speak of them more frequently then maybe we wouldn’t feel the pressure of disappointment as persistently (speaking for those who do).
6) Knowledge is not possible, and even if it were, would solve nothing. Such is the doubter’s position. What does he want, then—what is he looking for? Neither he nor anyone will ever know. Skepticism is the rapture of impasse.
The knowledge that one gains will never be enough because there is always much more to be learned; we will never satisfy our hunger for understanding. In this sense, knowledge being unobtainable becomes a joyful impasse, but why? Maybe because we can now be at ease knowing that all the stress gained from trying to seek the impossible is futile and now we can relax until our impending demise. A weird way to find the joy in ignorance, but it is a freeing thought. Maybe we shouldn’t stress the things we don’t have control over as often as we tend to.
7) A nineteenth-century philosopher maintained, in his innocence, that La Rochefoucauld was right for the past, but that he would be invalidated by the future. The idea of progress dishonors the intellect.
Future accomplishments belittle past achievements; to think progressively of an idea is to think beyond the idea (it doesn’t receive appropriate appreciation.) We must be able to appreciate the stepping stones (our past achievements) and realize that our current/future accomplishments wouldn’t be possible without them.
There are plenty of topics to pull and discuss from this book that I didn’t mention. The topics range from war and love, to religion and systematic structuring. So I welcome everyone to read this but warn you to not look from such a pessimistic perspective and open your mind to the deeper possibilities. In life, the journey to understanding is filled with required suffering. We must be able to look beyond our failures to progress while appreciating them for molding us into who we’ve become and will become. And most importantly, value your existence because it’s a limited one. Thank Emil Cioran, may you continue to rest in peace.
