How to Be Truly Free: Lessons From a Philosopher President

NYTIMES, Aug. 23, 2024

Humans can create infinite needs. The market dominates us, and it robs us of our lives. Humanity needs to work less, have more free time and be more grounded. Why so much garbage? Why do you have to change your car? Change the refrigerator? There is only one life and it ends. You have to give meaning to it. Fight for happiness, not just for wealth.

Q: Do you believe that humanity can change? 

It could change. But the market is very strong. It has generated a subliminal culture that dominates our instinct. It's subjective.  It's unconscious. It has made us voracious buyers. We live to buy. We work to buy. And we live to pay. Credit is a religion. So we're kind of screwed up. 

Q: It seems you don't have much hope. 

Biologically, I do have hope, because I believe in man. But when I think about it, I'm pessimistic.

Q: Yet your speeches often have a positive message.

Because life is beautiful. With all its ups and downs, I love life. And I'm losing it because it's my time to leave. What meaning can we give to life? Man, compared to other animals, has the ability to find a purpose. Or not. If you don't find it, the market will have you paying bills the rest of your life. If you find it, you will have something to live for. Those who investigate, those who play music, those who love sports, anything. Something that fills your life. 

I have one thing. The magic of the word. The book is the greatest invention of man. It's a shame that people read so little. They don't have time. Nowadays people do much of their reading on phones. Four years ago, I threw mine away. It made me crazy. All day talking nonsense. We must learn to speak with the person inside us. It was him who saved my life. Since I was alone for many years, that has stayed with me. When I'm in the field working with the tractor, sometimes I stop to see how a little bird constructs its nest. He was born with the program. He's already an architect. Nobody taught him. Do you know the hornero bird? They are perfect bricklayers. I admire nature. I almost have a sort of pantheism. You have to have the eyes to see it. The ants are one of the true communists out there. They are much older than us and they will outlive us. All colony beings are very strong.

….

Life is a chain and it is still full of mysteries.

What a complicated animal man is. He's both smart and stupid.

artist Marina Abramovic, from AKADEMIE X, LESSONS IN ART + LIFE

artist Marina Abramovic, from AKADEMIE X, LESSONS IN ART + LIFE

Excerpts from her message

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO INSPIRATION

  • An artist should not lie to himself or to others

  • An artist should look deep inside himself for inspiration

  • The deeper he looks inside himself, the more universal he becomes

  • The artist is universe

  • The artist is universe

  • The artist is universe

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO TRANSPARENCY

  • The artist should give and receive at the same time

  • Transparency means receptivity

  • Transparency means to give

  • Transparency means to receive

  • Transparency means receptivity

  • Transparency means to give

  • Transparency means to receive

  • Transparency means receptivity

  • Transparency means to give

  • Transparency means to receive

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO SYMBOLS

  • An artist creates his own symbols

  • Symbols are an artist’s language

  • The language must then be translated

  • Sometimes it is difficult to find the key

  • Sometimes it is difficult to find the key

  • Sometimes it is difficult to find the key

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO SILENCE

  • An artist has to understand silence

  • An artist has to create space for silence to enter his work

  • Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean

  • Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean

  • Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO SOLITUDE

  • An artist must make time for long periods of solitude

  • Solitude is extremely important

  • Away from home

  • Away from the studio

  • Away from family

  • Away from friends

  • An artist should stay for long periods of time at waterfalls

  • An artist should stay for long periods of time exploring volcanoes

  • An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at fast-running rivers

  • An artist should stay for long periods of time at horizons where the ocean and sky meet

  • An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night sky