“In the last years of his life this man possessed the virtue of serenity to such a degree that it radiated from him like the light from a star; so much that is was transmitted to all in the form of benevolence, enjoyment of life, good humor, trust and confidence. It continued to radiate outward from all who received it, all who had absorbed its brightness […] Such cheerfulness is neither frivolity nor complacency; it is supreme insight and love, affirmation of all reality, alertness on the brink of all depths and abysses, it is a virtue of saints and of knights; it is indestructible and only increases with age and nearness to death. It is the secret of beauty and real substance of all art. The poet who praises the splendors and terrors of life in the dance-measures of his verse, the musician who sounds them in a pure, eternal present- these are the bringers of light, increasers of joy and brightness on earth, even if they lead us first through tears and stress. Perhaps the poet whose verses gladden us was a sad solitary, and the musician a melancholic dreamer; but even so their work shares in the cheerful serenity of the gods and the stars. What they give us is no longer their darkness, their suffering or fears, but a crop of pure light, eternal cheerfulness.”
Herman Hesse (The Glass Bead Game/ Magister Ludi)
Notes
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