Leopardi and the Human Experience

In our selected reading on Giacomo Leopardi, he wrote extensively on his perception of happiness and the imagination as a foundation of the human experience. His writings opened my mind further to what I already know, but elaborated on those ideas in a way that gave me a deeper understanding of the mind and its relationship to certain emotions.

I agree with Leopardi's contemplation on his idea of pleasure because he suggests that the soul is constantly looking for what it does not have, good or bad.  “All pleasures must be mixed with displeasure, as we know by experience, for in achieving them, the soul is avidly seeking that which cannot be found” (Leopardi 50). This raises an interesting idea on what our desires are as humans. We do not want our lives to be filled with indifference, so while we are always looking for pleasure, we are also innately drawn to displeasure that can be mixed in with our search for fulfillment. Once we find pleasure in one aspect of our lives, we have to keep moving towards seeking a different pleasure to stay actively content. For humans, indifference is sometimes worse than displeasure.  

Along with our desires for pleasure and displeasure, Leopardi also states that imagination plays a massive role in people's lives.  “The imagination, as I said, is the prime source of human happiness. The more it reigns in man, the happier he will be” (Leopardi 51). In relation to most things, this is a valid statement. Especially when reading literature, a person has to be able to suspend disbelief in order to completely envelop his or herself into the message the author wants to portray. As well, setting and reaching goals in life requires a bit of imagination in order to achieve the ultimate destination. In my own life, I have had to actively use my imagination to set goals for running cross country, and they ultimately paid off because I was able to see myself reaching each stage in the progression of my success.  Although I agree with Leopardi for the most part, I do believe that there needs to be a balance of imagination versus reality. It is possible for a person to become engaged in their own imagination to where it can have adverse effects. A person cannot constantly imagine themselves achieving certain things and have no plan on how to get there. In order for imagination to lead to happiness, a person must be wary of how far their imagination goes.

 Leopardi, Giacomo, and Ottavio M. Casale. A Leopardi Reader. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1981. Print.