“To survive, according to Spinoza, is to become what you are capable of. He says, ‘If a horse is transformed into a human being, it will be destroyed to the same extent as when it is transformed into an insect…’ And if he is transformed into an angel, he is destroyed to the same extent as when he is transformed into a horse. Virtue is the manifestation of the specific powers of every living thing. For man, virtue is the state in which he is most humanized.” Erich Fromm – The Self-Defensive Man
Fromm’s statements about “humanizing”, “preserving his existence”, “being able to become what he is capable of”, I have the “dasein” (dasein = what is there) that Heidegger added to the literature, that is, “who is in the understanding of his existence – hence the one who takes responsibility for it”. – resonated as an interpretation from a different perspective of being an existent.
He also reminded me of the impressionist painter Claude Monet’s quote: “I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” (I would like to be able to paint like a bird singing.)
Isn’t that what it’s like to be what you’re capable of, to be in a place where you can enjoy your own existence, to stay in the situations where you feel most “humanized”? While the birds sing the song of nature by chirping, Monet paints nature with his chirping colors. And he becomes the best he can be, he manages to create the meaning of his life. Still, he doesn’t say, “I paint like the song of a bird.” Still trying to get there. Maybe Monet knew this, the best part of this adventure was being on the road…
There is no ultimate height attainable throughout our existence; We are constantly rebuilding ourselves on that path, and the important thing is the process; our effort to go where we can sing like a bird. Not trying to be what others want of us, but our effort to be what we want ourselves to be.
Big names like Monet are extreme examples, of course; We don’t all have to be great painters, artists or scientists. The important thing is to do something that we can feel spontaneously and naturally, such as the song of a bird, to add meaning to our existence, to feel humanized, to try to be something “like ourselves” for ourselves.
Painting: Claude Monet – The Cliff Walk at Pourville (1882)
