Cuprins
On vacation, on vacation … As these words themselves suggest, they let us go — or we let ourselves go. And here we are on a beach full of people, or with a map on the road, or in a museum queue. So why are we here, what are we looking for and what are we running from? Let the philosophers help us figure it out.
To run away from myself
Seneca (XNUMXst century BC — XNUMXst century after Christ)
The evil that torments us is called boredom. Not just a breakdown in spirit, but a constant dissatisfaction that haunts us, because of which we lose the taste for life and the ability to rejoice. The reason for this is our indecision: we do not know what we want. The pinnacle of desires is inaccessible to us, and we are equally incapable of either following them or renouncing them. («On the serenity of the spirit»). And then we try to escape from ourselves, but in vain: «That’s why we go to the coast, and we will look for adventures either on land or on the sea …». But these trips are self-deception: happiness is not in leaving, but in accepting what happens to us, without flight and without false hopes. («Moral Letters to Lucilius»)
L. Seneca «Moral Letters to Lucilius» (Science, 1977); N. Tkachenko «A treatise on the serenity of the spirit.» Proceedings of the Department of Ancient Languages. Issue. 1 (Aletheia, 2000).
For a change of scenery
Michel de Montaigne (XVI century)
If you travel, then in order to know the unknown, to enjoy the variety of customs and tastes. Montaigne admits that he is ashamed of people who feel out of place, barely stepping outside the threshold of their house. («Essay») Such travelers love most to return, to be home again — that’s all their meager pleasure. Montaigne, in his travels, wants to go as far as possible, he is looking for something completely different, because you can truly know yourself only by closely coming into contact with the consciousness of another. A worthy person is one who has met many people, a decent person is a versatile person.
M. Montaigne “Experiments. Selected Essays (Eksmo, 2008).
To enjoy your existence
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (XVIII century)
Rousseau preaches idleness in all its manifestations, calling for rest even from reality itself. One must do nothing, think of nothing, not be torn between memories of the past and fears of the future. Time itself becomes free, it seems to put our existence in brackets, inside which we simply enjoy life, wanting nothing and fearing nothing. And «as long as this state lasts, the one who abides in it can safely call himself happy.» («Walks of a Lonely Dreamer»). Pure existence, the happiness of a baby in the womb, idleness, according to Rousseau, is nothing but the enjoyment of complete co-presence with oneself.
J.-J. Rousseau «Confession. Walks of a lonely dreamer” (AST, 2011).
To send postcards
Jacques Derrida (XX-XXI century)
No vacation is complete without postcards. And this action is by no means trivial: a small piece of paper obliges us to write spontaneously, directly, as if the language were reinvented in every comma. Derrida argues that such a letter does not lie, it contains only the very essence: «heaven and earth, gods and mortals.» («Postcard. From Socrates to Freud and beyond»). Everything here is important: the message itself, and the picture, and the address, and the signature. The postcard has its own philosophy, which requires you to fit everything, including the urgent question “Do you love me?”, On a small piece of cardboard.
J. Derrida «About the postcard from Socrates to Freud and beyond» (Modern writer, 1999).