Week 9

In this week’s reading Michele de Montaigne's “Of Experience”, I found myself resonating with the text. One specific quote is,

“In the experience I have of myself I find enough to make me wise if I were a good scholar. He who calls back to mind the excess of his past anger, and how far this fever carried him away, sees the ugliness of this passion better than in Aristotle and conceives a more justified hatred for it. He who remembers the evils he has undergone, those that have threatened him, and the slight causes that have changed him from one state to another, prepares himself in that way for future changes and for recognizing his condition. The life of Caesar has no more to show us than our own; an emperor’s or an ordinary man’s, it is still a life subject to all human accidents. Let us only listen: we tell ourselves all we most need.”

This really resonated with me because I have found myself in that position. Where I feel an overwhelming amount of emotions over a certain situation specifically anger or frustration within my thoughts and drive myself insane about it only to realize the “ugliness” I have created. As a human, it is normal to have emotions and release them, but it is very important to understand them and learn from them so that in future situations you can use that knowledge to better judge a situation and address it. Anger can turn many people “ugly” and they may not recognize the damage they have caused until after releasing it. I personally have experienced moments of anger but have controlled my emotions by thinking “Is it worth it?” “Will I regret saying this?” even if I am hurt I would rather distance myself from a situation than cause more pain to another person. And I think throughout this text Montaigne wants us to recognize that we are the ones in control and we should learn to be all we need. This helps us recognize what challenges we’ve faced and be able to reflect and grow from it.