Sometimes the words line up on the page as if by automatism. There follows a relief. These last months, nothing. A few laborious lines, an empty mind. The feeling of being part of a world that turns less and less round, that has become so incomprehensible that to be interested in it is to get lost in it. A world that lacks atrociously of humanity.

1. HUMANITY, WHO ARE YOU?
HUMAN NATURE AND EMPATHY
Humanity is you, it is me, it is us. Where is it going?
Where are we going? What impact can we still have on the
world of tomorrow? Between apathy and revolt.
THE WELL
WAS DRY
For a long time I was shortof ideas. The ones thatsurfaced seemed futile, so I
did notwrite. Nochronicle, no story. A few letters. I confided in my friend
Rozanne:"The subjectsthat come to me are 'first world problems';they seem
so trivial.” Shetells me notto worry. “Relax. Let it come. Whenyouhave
somethingtosay, you’ll tell it like it is.”
Yet the revolt that sparks my pen is always lurkinginside me. Sometimesit
burns andexpresses itself in bitter criticism. Butfor the pastfew months,
nothing.
Humanity nolonger inspires me, nordoes the world it creates.
DEFINING
HUMANITY
First andforemost, humanity is all humanbeings. Big, small, poor, rich, clever,
naive, happy, sad, hard-workingand idle. We all share this life thatwe did not
©
Les
Voies
Libres

2. chooseto possessandwhich propelled us to earth. Like bricksassembled to
build a single wall.
Humanity is also thisability given to all andexercised by some to consider
themselvesas part of a whole – to intimately feel the relationshipsthat, by
connecting all the elements, give meaningto the whole. The sine quanonof
empathy, thesource of all benevolence.
What hashumanity become?Where is it going? Hasn'tit, globally, committed
so many excesses that it haslost its way?
My desires follow the same hazardouspath.
Sylvie Castagné
Zurich, May 27, 2022