Nov 29, 2021
On the fraud
To know if a man is a fraud, see if he teaches you one thing and does another.[1]
A fraud says one thing and does another: He turns his own words into lies.
The writer is his writings: The aphorist, his aphorisms; the poet, his poems; the novelist, his novels; and the essayist, his essays. But not always: There are some frauds in my library.
You know a fraud: Not just by looking at the books, but also by looking at the writer (he is not his writings).
A philosopher is the wisdom that he sees and shows others, never a fraud.
To know if a philosopher is a fraud, see if he is not the wisdom that he sees and shows others.[2]
Do not just philosophize; practice the wisdom that you see.[3]
As I read in a history book, they told Lucius Annaeus Seneca that he turned his philosophy into lies by not practicing it himself.
Emil Cioran: Arthur Schopenhauer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Nietzsche turn their opinions into lies by not living them.[4]
Do not turn your advices (and the wisdom behind them) into lies by not keeping them yourself.
You are either a fraud in some, or in all, or in nothing.
Be your own philosophy; always.
[1] A fraud is like a liar; a fraud is like a man who does not keep his promises or his oath.
[2] A contribution to The wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach.
[3] Nassim Taleb is a role model in reverse: For him, the coronavirus pandemic was (and it still is) an opportunity to philosophize; but he did not practice his own philosophy and, as he said, was the only one who got infected with COVID-19 during a party. Taleb is not the wisdom he shows others; he is a fraud.
For Nassim Taleb, If you see a fraud and do not shout fraud, you are a fraud.
[4] Emil Cioran, too, is a fraud, given that he is not the opinions that he expressed in Le Mauvais Démiurge, at least, as he said in Cahiers.
