Leopardi's ideas

In a recent reading I examined Giacomo Leopardi and his ideas. I must admit some of Leopardi’s ideas do not make the most sense to me. In one of his paragraphs he touches on the ideas of reason and illusions. He goes onto say, “ Reason is the enemy of everything great; reason is the enemy of nature; nature is great and reason is small. What I mean is that the more a man is dominated by reason, the less chance or the more difficulty he will have in being great. Few can achieve greatness (perhaps none in art or poetry) unless they are ruled by illusions” (Leopardi 35).  I strongly disagree with this statement from Leopardi. Reason is one of the most important things in life. Without reason there would be no cause. Reason is why we do the things we do.

To say that a man dominated by reason cannot achieve greatness is irrational. There is always a need for reason that way one can learn and then continue their path to greatness. Had everyone believed greatness came from illusions then there would be no go-getters and people would be siting around waiting for greatness to come to them. I know this for a fact though; nobody is great at what they do because they had an illusion that it would come to them. Instead they used reason to determine how to become great. I would compare this to a sport in some sense. A soccer player cannot become great by just wanting to become a professional player. They cannot have this illusion that it will just come to them, instead they use reason, to practice and practice to the point where they then can achieve greatness.

However, Leopardi does make a good point in one of his paragraphs. He says, “The greatest happiness possible for a man in this world is when he lives peacefully in his calling with the quiet…” (Leopardi 39).  To me “your calling” is what you are supposed to do in life and Leopardi is stating that you are the happiest when you find your calling. This statement goes similarly to another common saying, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” (Confucius) This statement coincides with Leopardi’s in that you will be happy if you find what you are meant to do.