The Cartesian Plane of Existence: Matter, Spirit, and Battiato
There is a song by the Italian maestro Franco Battiato called Inneres Auge (Inner Eye). On the surface, it is a ferocious political satire released in 2009, attacking a corrupt Italian ruling class, politicians organizing private parties with public money, buying silence, and degrading the dignity of the state.
But as we know, Battiato never stayed on the surface. Hidden inside this invective against "ciarlatani e truffatori" (charlatans and fraudsters) is a geometric truth that I have been obsessing over lately.
In the chorus, he sings:
"La linea orizzontale ci spinge verso la materia
Quella verticale verso lo spirito"
(The horizontal line pushes us toward matter
The vertical one toward the spirit)
Most people view life as a binary choice between these two lines. You either sell your soul to the horizontal grind - chasing the KPI, the exit, the agency margins, the crypto pump - or you retreat vertically into asceticism, rejecting the material world to keep your hands clean.
I disagree. I don't want to choose. I want to plot a vector.
The Horizontal Trap
The horizontal axis (X) is undeniable. It is gravity. It is the "agency trap" I’ve written about, the world where justice is just "public merchandise" and where money reigns supreme.
If you spend all your time on the X axis, you become flat. You might accumulate wealth, but as Battiato warns, you end up surrounded by "rincoglioniti" (idiots), drowning in noise. You lose the Inneres Auge - the inner eye that allows you to see the aura of things. You become just another component in a system designed to extract value, not generate meaning.
The Vertical Escape
The vertical axis (Y) is the escape. It is what Battiato describes in the ending of the song:
"Ma quando ritorno in me, sulla mia via / A leggere e studiare, ascoltando i grandi del passato / Mi basta una sonata di Corelli, perché mi meravigli del creato"
(But when I return to myself, on my way / Reading and studying, listening to the greats of the past / A sonata by Corelli is enough to make me marvel at creation)
This is the domain of the spirit, of study, of deep work, and of silence. It is essential. But if you only exist on the vertical line, you risk disconnecting from the reality of the world. You cannot even attempt fix the system if you have completely exited it.
The Ideal Path
Here is where I stand: The ideal path is a somewhat 45ish-degree angle.
I am not interested in poverty for the sake of purity, nor am I interested in wealth for the sake of status.
- I want the financial sovereignty to say "no" or "yes" to whatever I want whenever I want.
- I want the resources to buy the time to see incredible places and wonder about the marvels of life, without worrying about rent.
- I want the best tools to execute my work seamlessly, so the friction of the material world doesn't hinder the flow of ideas.
The goal isn't to arrest your movement on the horizontal line; it's to ensure that for every unit of material gain (X), there is a corresponding unit of spiritual or intellectual growth (Y).
Keeping the "Inneres Auge" Open
The danger, of course, is that the horizontal pull is stronger. The world is designed to keep you on the X-axis. It screams at you with notifications, FOMO, and engagement metrics.
To maintain that diagonal vector requires what Battiato calls the Inneres Auge, the inner eye. It is the ability to participate in the market without becoming a product of it. It is the ability to see the "ciarlatani" for what they are, even when they are wearing expensive suits.
I try to live with this Inneres Auge. I operate in the tech world; I build, I earn. But I know that the horizontal line is just the floor I stand on. It is not the ceiling I aim for.
Das innere Auge. Keep it open. Don't let the horizontal line become your horizon.