Let's love life!

Le Regard Libre No. 22 – Jonas Follonier

There are people who are bored. Worse still, there are people who don’t enjoy life (which is even more serious when they aren’t living in poverty). The purpose of this editorial is to change their minds—or at least to show them that changing their minds is possible. In my opinion, loving life is closely linked to passion, sensitivity, and a desire for self-improvement.

Let’s start with passion. Ever since the Romantics, we’ve had a certain idea of what romantic passion is. Here, the concept of passion must be understood more broadly. Forging a personal identity depends largely on our ability to have preferences—particularly artistic, sexual, or social ones. I call this inclination to take an interest in something and to cultivate that interest “passion.” The Alps are so vast, YouTube is so rich, and the range of activities is so wide that passion is inevitable.

Linked to passion—and even more fundamental—sensitivity seems to me to be the quintessential condition for human happiness. You don’t have to be an artist or an extraordinary person to show sensitivity: every human being carries within them this longing, this gift of admiration and wonder for people and things, no matter how simple or trivial they may be.

What could be more human than enjoying a landscape, a guitar chord, a beer, a color, a conversation with friends, a good night’s sleep, a compliment, an idea, the morning sun, a stroll through town, the company of a loved one, or the warmth of the sea? If I had to give one reason to love life, it would be the number of dishes we still have yet to savor—especially when a meal is accompanied by conversation and a bottle of wine.

Self-improvement, finally, refers to the opportunity that human beings have to grow day by day. Not only can the species as a whole do this, but so can the individual! One aspect of personal development I’d like to emphasize is sharing with others. In short, passion, sensitivity, and self-improvement all converge in one value: curiosity. Let’s savor together the words of So you are, I see (2010), a sublime song performed by Grand Corps Malade and Charles Aznavour:

Man is a solitary being who needs others
And the more it opens up, the bigger it gets
Discover my culture, and I'll learn about yours
«I think, therefore I am,» and you are, therefore I learn. […]
Let's talk to strangers; let's break out of ignorance
Let's make our world a place free of pride […]
Let's stop thinking small and take a broader view
Let's share our ideas, our values, and our time.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com