Why this book?
- To become acquainted with one of Emil Cioran's most important philosophical works.
- To reflect on birth, death, and the meaning of human existence.
- To experience Cioran's aphoristic and poetic style.
- For enthusiasts of existential philosophy and philosophical literature.
About the book
The Trouble with Being Born is one of the major works of Emil Cioran, the Romanian-French philosopher and essayist, in which the human condition is reduced to the most fundamental ontological questions. In this book, Cioran sees birth not as the beginning of a hopeful path, but as a problematic event and the source of much human suffering.
This work is a collection of notes and short aphorisms on subjects such as time, death, God, religion, suicide, suffering, and silence. Cioran's distinctive style in this book is a blend of philosophical precision, poetic language, and bitter humor that compels the reader to contemplate the human experience.
The Trouble with Being Born is suitable for readers interested in the philosophy of life, existentialist thought, and reflective writings on suffering and meaning. This book represents one of the most mature periods of Cioran's thought and a continuation of his path in exploring the darkness and contradictions of human existence.
A zoologist who had studied gorillas in their native habitat was astonished by the monotony of their lives and their vast idleness. Hours and hours without doing anything... Was boredom unknown to them? This is, in fact, a question posed by a human; a busy ape. Animals not only do not flee monotony, they crave it, and what they should be terrified of is seeing this feeling end, for monotony only ends when replaced by fear (the cause of all activity). Idleness is a divine state. Yet it is against this very idleness that man has rebelled. In nature, only man is incapable of enduring monotony, only man wants something to happen at any cost; something, anything... Consequently, he shows himself unworthy of his ancestors. The need for novelty is the characteristic of an alienated gorilla.