The first in an occasional series of quotes worth pondering at greater length while in search of a European identity:
“Peace, solidarity and cooperation are only conceivable among peoples and nations who know who they are… If I don’t know who I am, who I want to be, what I want to achieve, where I begin and where I end, then my relations with the people around me and the world at large will inevitably be tense, suspicious and burdened by an inferiority complex that may go hidden behind puffed-up bravura.”(Vaclav Havel, quoted in Geert Mak, In Europe: Travels through the twentieth century, p.48)
Nicely put.
If I don’t know who I am, who I want to be, what I want to achieve, where I begin and where I end, then my relations with the people around me and the world at large will inevitably be tense, suspicious and burdened by an inferiority complex…
I disagree. I’ve pondered the quote and it’s actually really disturbing. First, not many people do know all those things about themselves. If you ask me who I am (e.g.), what sort of answer will you find acceptable? Second, most of the really toxic personalities in world politics have a very confident answer to all those questions. I doubt Jesse Helms had the slightest doubt in his mind as to who he was, who he wanted to be, what he wanted to achieve, and where “he began and ended.” There is likewise no question that he was among the most odious public figures of all time, anywhere on earth.
Havel, perhaps, might object that Helms’ answers were supremely misguided; but this is more of a “No True Scotsman” argument that renders the original premise useless.
I personally think that the sorts of questions that Havel believes we ought to have settled answers to, are precisely the ones that open-minded people leave constantly open.