An Apology To Michel de Montaigne
I quote others in order the better to express myself-Michel de Montaigne
To learn that we have said or done a foolish thing, that is nothing; we must learn that we are nothing but fools, a far broader and important lesson.
—Michel de Montaigne, Essays
Monsieur Montaigne—Forgive me! I rarely quote you and I oftentimes forget you exist. If you ask me who my top ten favorite writers are and what my top ten favorite books are—your name will not spring to mind. If I remember you, it is only after periods of deep contemplation and then I rush forward to discover you and your works all over again.
Perhaps it is because I am jealous. You copyrighted the term Essays. If I told a fellow courteous reader (naturally, like yourself dear courteous reader!) that I was reading Essays then you would know that I was reading Montaigne. For a second or two perhaps some subroutine would activate in your brain and you would think of the Essays of Francis Bacon or Essays: First Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson. But then if that was what I wanted you to think, then I wouldn’t have mentioned Bacon or Emerson.
It is almost as if throwing a name after essay we stipulate that we are reading a sub-superior work. Essays are the Godhead of the genre and all other works are nothing but finite subdivisions which owe their existence to the MONAD, or THE ALL. There are essays but nevermore shall there be Essays. Merely this and nothing more.
What is it that continues to draw me back to you? Is it your own brand of comedy, your own version of dramatic irony. Your personal motto of “Que sais-je, what do I know?” You sit behind your essays and claim to be the fool…
But I wonder what type of fool you could be. I have only to turn to any of your essays which range from a few hundred words to a few hundred pages. Face them and I will be assaulted with history, philosophy, poetry, stories, arguments, observations, rants, non-sequiturs. Titles that have nothing to do with the contents and words that directly contradict the previous and following essays. And of course! Random quotes that leave the reader with no idea of why you chose them.
My judgment restrains me from kicking against and murmuring at the inconveniences that nature orders me to endure, but it does not take away my feeling them: I, who have no other thing in my aim but to live and be merry, would run from one end of the world to the other to seek out one good year of pleasant and jocund tranquility. A melancholic and dull tranquility may be enough for me, but it benumbs and stupefies me; I am not contented with it. If there be any person, any knot of good company in country or city, in France or elsewhere, resident or in motion, who can like my humor, and whose humors I can like, let them but whistle and I will run and furnish them with essays in flesh and bone.
—Michel de Montaigne, Essays
Montaigne tosses us a challenge. He wants us to sculpt our philosophy and way. And his method of training is to force us to wade through his labyrinthian thoughts. To find our own intuitions and not be distracted by diverting surfaces.
Montaigne’s longest essay is An Apology for Raymond Sebond. Montaigne’s father too had a bit of the troll in him. He impelled his son to translate a book that he knew his son would hate. Raymond Sebond’s book of Natural Theology. Sebond believed that one could learn all about God, religion, and nature by reading the Bible and scriptures alone. But Montaigne comes out on top and son surpasses his father in the art of trolling.
For the only apology Montaigne makes in his essay is an apology that he completely disagrees with everything that Sebond stated. In Montaigne’s belief, the entire point of man is to become at home in our existence which does not have room for fixed supports. Beliefs to Montaigne are like trying to hang your hat on a nail that was hammered into open air.
The essay doesn’t even mention Sebond past the first couple of pages and one wonders whether or not the essay is a veiled attack on Christianity in the form of a book review in which the reviewer forgets author and book. A cheap disguise for real thoughts.
To this I have very little to add, save for my belief that friendship is the one true religion on this planet. By striving for the highest ideal of friendship you manifest the actual benefits that most religions claim to create in their believers. Moving towards friendship you tangibly (and perhaps further) create those values every time you interact and deal with your fellow humans.