ABOUT A BOOK

In the countless bookshelves across the world, or in the forgotten boxes abandoned in the attics or cellars, covered with dust and the veil of ignorance, stowed away in silence, awaits the biggest wealth man can ever find. It is the wealth that does not deplete with time and does not recognise the difference between races, nations and cultures as it speaks indifferently to them. It cuts through the aeons of time and awaits silently to be taken, to give itself, never asking for anything in return. The only good in the world that has no value, not because it is valueless, but because one cannot measure its value. But as it stands now, in our modern time that valuelessness turns out to be the consequence of not giving value to that which deserves it the most.

History of philosophy and art increased the burden of responsibility for new generations, surprisingly less interested in any burden, not to mention a burden of such immeasurable wealth. There was less of a burden for Plato as he did not have Aristotle before him, or for Aristotle who did not have Kant before him, and for Kant because he did not have Nietzsche before him. But, maybe for the same reason it was much harder for them as they did not have capital thoughts of such giants before them to enlighten the dark sides of life for them, which needed explaining and understanding. As the number of giants of thought increased on the historical stage, the responsibilities for those for whom the thoughts of the giants were created subsequently increased too.

Packed away in the shelves await great thoughts of the giant minds, hoping that someone will absorb them, maybe further develop and multiply them. But the choice of the new time, as we can witness in the windows of the book shops, is on the smaller thoughts made by smaller minds, which should not really belong to the same shops, same towns and even the same planet. But somehow, they found themselves even on the same shelves. The new books with the shallow thoughts are even more expensive, more attractive, as they teach people how to make some exotic Portuguese meal or delicious cake with strawberries, or how to make your way from a lap dancer to the president’s wife. This shallow information enters shallow minds and creates shallow atmosphere of shallow happiness. However, the shallow world continues spinning and sees its success in its increased numbers of inhabitants, but unfortunately not in these numbers’ increased depth.

There are two types of wealth: the one that can be seen and the other which cannot. The former can multiply tenfold, a hundredfold, but it can also get lost, crumble, burn, get stolen or break. The latter is the wealth that a man can build only inside himself through the harmony between reason and passions. An increase in that inner wealth is impossible without discovering the heritage that the few great minds have left to the world as a heavy inheritance.