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Editorial

MAN, EARTH, AIR:

A HARD BALANCE

by Cesare Patrone *

fter giving birth to philosophy and representing the essence of life, the
air seems determined to celebrate man’s funeral service. Naturally
Awith his own consensus. The inconceivable relationship between man
and the most important element for his life, i.e. the air, cannot be understood in any
other way but in a relationship tending to masochism.
The air did not choose, does not choose to follow the path that today seems – at
least according to the conclusions some experts have come to on the basis of indu-
bitable data – a prelude to destruction. On the contrary, it’s the man who chose it.
It’s the man who is currently treading such a dangerous path when in a state of total
unconsciousness and confused by the incivility of his own selfishness he does not do
anything at all or just a little to limit current and future damage relating to his mis-
behaviour, wrong choices and refusals. Yet the air was the very subject of philosophi-
cal speculations; the basis of musical compositions and instrumental inventions -
and not just from a lexical viewpoint; the inspirer of poets and men of letters; a
thought-provoking element for engineers and architects; the reference points for sets
and it is also present in many horce exercise related terms. Should everything be put
in a corner? Should everything be forgot? It seems so: as, and this is the point, to-
day’s man is dominated by poor memory and first and foremost he is slave to the
leading thought, undoubtedly a weak thought, which suggests he should privilege
possessing rather than being and the material perception of things prevails over
the intuition of things. Unfortunately the air has the fault of being colourless, im-
palpable, odourless, transparent, invisible; nobody can see it, nobody can touch it, so
nobody can perceive it. Nobody can feel its presence, even less its importance. 8 n.
Given these premises, the consequence is that man behaves as if the air did not -
III
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* Head of Corpo forestale dello Stato Anno

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