A reflex of thought, developed I imagine since the first years of school, makes us believe that a question commands an answer. It even happens that we get irritated by people who answer one question with another. However, Vincent Lambert, in his Introduction to endless life, does not turn away from any question, constituting it food for his insatiable curiosity. And, just as the pleasure is in the journey, not the destination, he admits that “silence, perhaps, is the answer.”
These are the first foundations of his essay, made up of 25 texts, where he proposes to probe our relationship to the world, taking literature as a starting point, which is, “like the dream, the great reservoir of our virtualities”.
From the outset, he questions reality, from a collective as well as an individual point of view, proposing the idea that by not questioning it, we have perhaps forgotten its malleable character. “It is possible that we have lost a certain sense of illusion, the capacity to include in our common idea of reality a doubt about the very reality of this reality. »
According to him, we cross reality, in the same way that it crosses us, subject de facto to a certain subjectivity. The idea that we inhabit the world as the world inhabits us is recurrent, reminding humanity of a necessary humility: “And what appeared to me […], it is to what extent we are in our own bubble, humans, to what extent our world seems to evolve in a closed circuit in the great kingdom of the living, foreign to this “marvelous community where our body introduces us.” »
To put it another way: “Nothing that we see lives by itself. It is an ecological thought that he gives us, seeking a balance between our individuality, the human community and the living world, at a time when the bankruptcy of this cohabitation seems imminent.
In a rhythmic, lively, enjoyable and clear language, Vincent Lambert speaks to us with a very humble authority, nourished with humor and lucidity, easily intriguing his daily life and the thought of very many references – the amplitude of which is impressive.
The poet, essayist and teacher is convincing. Not because his arguments are undeniable, but precisely because he refuses to reach any clear-cut conclusion, rather seizing the certainties of our time to verify whether there might not be, beyond the walls they erect, other possible.
From this posture emerges a series of paradoxes which, taken on board, reflect the complexity of the world, allowing us to better understand it. The intellectual journey ofIntroduction to endless life strikes us, but what remains is the scope of its sensitive anchoring in the living: “The paradox, the impossible possibility, is not only to be in the world, it is to have the world interior; it is not only to inhabit it, it is to feel that it inhabits us. »