You Die at the End
Meditations On Mortality And The Human Condition
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Descripción editorial
The fundamentals of a human's life on this planet have not changed very much over the millennia. The world is large and indifferent to the suffering of its denizens, its inhabitants. Perhaps there is a God who is not indifferent. Perhaps there is no such God. There are, however, people who suffer. Those people sometimes wonder about their suffering, their place in this world, and, forgive the expression, God knows what else. You Die at the End: Meditations on Mortality and the Human Condition is William Ferraiolo’s attempt to contemplate a few elements of the human condition from the perspective of an individual, middling effort to manage a human life. Perhaps this will prove worthy of the reader’s time and effort. The author hopes to be of service. The author frequently fails. Sometimes, the author blunders into a brief, useful moment of clarity. Read on to find out if this book serves as a useful blunder.
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Drawing from Stoic philosophy, Ferraiolo (Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure) offers tough-minded and irreverent meditations intended to caustically jolt readers toward a life of rugged individualism and self-reliance. Each meditation is preceded by biblical quotations, which serve as inspiration for Ferraiolo's free-wheeling stoic interpretations. He explains how the Stoics taught that happiness or contentment is found only through the sober acceptance of reality and the cultivation of virtue to improve oneself. Ferraiolo's tone can be blistering, particularly when he rails against postmodernism, collectivism, political correctness, equality, and more. Through confrontational and sometimes troubling rhetoric ("you are free to ignore, ridicule, or silently condemn authority as you see fit, or as reason dictates. Let the masses hang"), Ferraiolo seeks to push readers out of a "herd instinct" mentality to show that they are not special and to nudge them toward pursuing a noble existence in the face of inevitable mortality. The meditations can be deeply nihilistic, calling the reader and people in general "imbeciles," "morons," "apes," and "idiots," presumably in service of destroying the ego to build it anew, but Ferraiolo's misanthropic take is likely a bridge too far for most. This narrow view of how stoicism can be applied to self-help will only appeal to readers who respond well to tough love.
