11.11.07
Vita Brevis (Floria, Jostein Gaarder)
1:25 a.m. and the rain sustains its steady percussion… and
for some reason, I am having reminiscences of Floria and portions of her letter
to St. Augustine. Was it yesterday’s conversation with Bings
about celibacy that evoked these thoughts? Or was it Kundera’s words
touching upon body and soul that were echoing?
…but these lines, these lines! Straying from the prime issues and vital concerns but reverberating through me, nevertheless… they’re like figs from the
tree in Carthage – back when it was still fruitful – falling with the rain and accenting every
downbeat.
“First I read everything I could get hold of on philosophy… So in order
to understand you better I had to go some way along the same road you had
trodden.”
“Already then and there I think there must have been something about
the two of us that somehow frightened the others, something strong and close…”
She
wrote in such a headstrong manner…
but no one knows whether she even had the courage
to send the letter…
Bah, go to sleep little girl! Don’t end up bitter like Floria. Vita Brevis!
