Make music, Socrates!

Since Michel de Montaigne, an essay has not been written by someone who sails, but always by the one who gets on the ferry. Its perspective is not given by the horizon, but by the accumulated experience and the breezy form. The philosophical essays of Rudolf Kassner of Austria were also written in this spirit. In them he judges with poetic exaltation, argues with philosophical caution, and measures with theological balance. Few like his physiognomic approach, his self-righteous use of language: "I like that in everything I write, there are intermediate spaces, permeated with light and air, not quite patched." The eight longer and shorter writings in the volume revolve around the themes of music and hearing, providing insight into the world of thought held by these undeservedly forgotten modern mystical spiritual discoveries. "Of course, I think there's an exception in Mozart's face, I guess, because of his absolute genius, which in this case uses man as a tool and even a toy. To paradoxically express myself, whatever his face might have been; just like the gods walking on earth, he appears in disguise, transformed. Everything around him seems mythical, unlikely, even his death. " * "There are those who desire what they do not have, and there are those who desire what they already have. The first corresponds to the allegory, the second to the symbol. The longing of the former is completely natural, self-evident, almost like a arithmetic example, not much can be said about it: either they achieve their goal or not.The desire for the missing can be dissolved, so to speak, there is a reason, one realizes.But the longing of the latter after what they already have is interesting and lively and insoluble and there is no reason and deep as the sea and brilliant. "