Agostinho da Silva was a Portuguese philosopher, poet, and essayist. A rare and extraordinary man in his time (1906-1994).

1. Read, Listen, Look, but above all, Think
If the great inventions or findings, like fire, the wheel or the lever happened before man was historically
capable of writting, it is also unquestionable that development was, without any doubt, faster from the
moment when it was possible to register inteligence in writting, when knowledge could be transmitted
with more credibility than by spoken word, when a library of any kind was the testament of the past and
the foundation for the future. The archives followed the books, for lighter ...; and millions of pages of
divagation or human emotion that looked even lighter, or less enduring, were left out of libraries or
archives. By writting or reading, we come together beyond time and space, and our limited arms
embrace the world; the richness of others makes us rich. Read.
Millions of men in the present world, however, are incapacitated to write and read, much less because
of the insuficiency of methods and means, than the lack of incentive to rise above their harsh quotidian,
and the will of those that have the power to make their real brothers become more dependable on
themselves, and less dependable of external, and almost always deceitful salvations.
Communication is done much more by spoken word than by any other mean; what we are told seems
many times of no importance, but maybe due to a failure in the attitude of listening than because of the
content of what was said; perhaps the key-word was there, but we were distracted or impatient for our
turn to speak; and it fled in the wind, to other ears, or no ears at all. Listen.
When anthropology became aware that Man descended from the apes, it was noticed that what
differenciated them was that, while one, even in a most primitive state, drew, the other, although on a
superior anthropoid state, did not even look at the drawing. Image was always present through History,
from paintings or rock art, with a true meaning that remains unsolved, to cinema or television, with a
meaning that could also be questionned, and that must be urgently separated from the purpose of
profit, publicity or ideological propaganda, so that it may accomplish, like the ancient forms, the mission
of illuminating, inspiring and exalting the world. Look.
But what you see, or listen or read, is nothing but raw material for the mind, clean from most of its
impurities, as it was thought by many before; but because of that, maybe other impurities have been
added. Therefore, never hurry to adhere; never let yourself be taken by any feeling other than the love
of understanding, of seeing as clear as possible inside and out of yourself; analyse everything you
receive and do not let anything inside your spirit that has not been analysed by the filter of criticism,
coherence and conformity of facts; believe deeply in constructive doubt and start from there to
certainties that you must always consider as temporary, except one: that you are capable of
understanding everything that is understandable; reject everything else until you can put it on your
scale of reason. Weigh everything. Think.
Agostinho da Silva, in 'Textos e Ensaios Filosóficos'