Henri Bergson: joy, pain and exhaustion of the vital impulse in philosophy of creation

Abstract

At first, this study turns to the Bergsonian theory that man is the greatest creation of life, the one in which the vital movement might, not without effort and difficulties, have moved along by its most prolific path: the advent of a creator. Based on this assumption, the objective is to reflect on the aspects in which human acts surpass the openness that is intrinsic to the intellect, merging with the productive dynamism of life. Therefore, this study will focuson the creative process in art and morality. In the artistic and mystical experience that goes beyond the socially consolidated morality, the creative process, enabling the communion of human consciousness with the vital impulse, can drive the conscience to experience the deepest joy. This delight, however, does not come without the concomitance of a painful process, whose tonic is established by the anguish and the mishaps of creation, similar to those that are delineated in the advancement of life in its evolutionary process. The connection between creation and pain will be scrutinized under the key effort, which is a crucial notion in Bergson's thinking. Later on, considering that the history of life, woven in Creative Evolution, finds continuity in human history -a theory postulated in the philosopher'slast book -the study addresses the equation of man's condition in this process, which, in fact, represents life's greatest work and, at the same time, up dates the phantasm of generalized destruction. (AU)