…in those days there were universities and academies in all the districts because the people wanted to advance their knowledge as quickly as they could; like hunger and want, the senselessness of life had tormented the human heart too long, and it was high time to find out what the existence of men was all about, was it something serious, or a joke?
Andrei Platonov. The Potudan River.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Hunger and want
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2 comments:
And the verdict? Is it serious or a joke? Isn't this the very question that made Nietzsche go mad in the end? Having only observed life inside this cosmos he deduced it all to a game -- Will To Power. Making the same error as the ancient Greeks of binding God to necessity and to the Cosmos he saw no way out of the powerplays which he saw ultimately to be encaspulated in Judeo-Christian teachings of passivity. Never understanding a vision of ontology to be free from this fallen cosmic binding he grew to detest the perceived passive-aggressive nature of Judeo-Christian teaching. He saw religion itself as nothing by a power play of the oppressed triumphing over the oppressor (and thus becoming the oppressor). Christ's ultimate passivity of death on a cross was the "trump" card of lust in his horrible deduction. Passivity with religion as its vehicle became the ultimate lust for power. What drove him mad... that in the end the joke was serious or that all that was serious was nothing but a joke? (As far as his observations of philosophising of fallen ontology could allow him to deduce).
Thanks for putting this quote out there. It's a great reminder to not uphold that which is a tool, not an end.
Wonderful reflection, Stacy :)
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