Como viver bem

Good Life — de Yi-Fu-Tuan, um professor chinês de geografia que dá aula em Wisconsin — é um livro quase acadêmico, escrito de forma cristalina, sobre o assunto mais fascinante que existe: como viver bem. É a nossa última esperança, afinal. Gostei muito de acompanhar as considerações de Tuan sobre a vida no campo, o conceito de estabilidade, a importância do progresso e as origens, por exemplo, da nossa vocação à caça e à guerra. É um elogio à educação liberal — no melhor sentido da expressão — e à vida urbana, civilizada. Os melhores momentos do livro talvez sejam as citações — ele é cheio delas — e o último capítulo, Summing Up, "before I turn the floor over to you".

Um citação, por exemplo, de William James, sobre a vida na cidade: "The rapid rate of life, the number of decisions in an hour, the many things to keep account of, in a busy city man's or woman's life, seems monstrours to a country brother. He doens't see how we live at all. A day in New York or Chicago fills him with terror. The danger and noise make it appear like a permanent earthquake. But settle him there, and in a year or two he will have caught the pulse beat. He will vibrate to the city's rhythms; and if he only succeeds in his vocation, whatever that may be, he will find a joy in all the hurry and the tension, he will keep the pace as well as any of us, and get as much out of himself in any week as he ever did in ten weeks in the country". 

E uma passagem de Summing Up sobre uma das vantagens da civilização: "Intense and intimate conversation between friends (like that between Russell and Conrad) is a highly valued personal experience. It may seem to be the sort of event that can occur, though rarely, in any culture. But this is not the case. That type of human exchange is an exquisite and, therefore, very rare product of a sophisticated urban culture. It presupposes self-awareness of the highest order, critical intelligence, a disposition to probe a topic to its farthest reaches and the darkest corners, a confidence that truth — however hard it may be to bear at first — ultimately contributes to the strenght of an interpersonal bond; and all these qualities on top of an inexplicable personal chemestry. So, if a person has tasted the fervor and delight of a sustained conversation during which layer after layer of superficiality are peeled off, he will want to explore the culture that has made it possible and he will learn to appreciate that culture that more".