Ypokeimenon

Hey just wondering what’s been your favorite text to read/study and why?

There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.

If the myth of Sisyphus is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.

One recognizes one’s course by discovering the paths that stray from it.

Man simply invented God in order not to kill himself. That is the summary of universal history down to the moment.

My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours,

Mortals dwell in that they initiate their own nature -their being capable of death as death- into the use and practice of this capacity, so that there may be a good death. To initiate mortals into the nature of death in no way means to make death, as empty Nothing, the goal. Nor does it mean to darken dwelling by blindly staring toward the end.

Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man. Perhaps it is before all else man's subversion of this relation of dominance that drives his nature into alienation. That we retain a concern for care in speaking is all to the good, but it is of no help to us as long as language still serves us even then only as a means of expression. Among all the appeals that we human beings, on our part, can help to be voiced, language is the highest and everywhere the first.

To think is first of all to create a world (or to limit one’s own world, which comes to the same thing). It is starting out from the basic disagreement that separates man from his experience in order to find a common ground according to one’s nostalgia, a universe hedged with reasons or lighted up with analogies but which, in any case, gives an opportunity to rescind the unbearable divorce.

If the world were clear, art would not exist.

Μήπως ο έρωτας δεν είναι μια πράξη, αλλά μια αναζήτηση; Μήπως ο έρωτας δεν είναι ένα συναίσθημα, αλλά ένας υπαρξιακός συγκλονισμός που δεν αρκείται στο επιμέρους;

Είναι η αναζήτηση της αγάπης που απαντά στην ατομική θνητότητα και που εξαφανίζει την ισοπεδωτική ματαιότητα που εκπηγάζει από το τέλος της ύπαρξης. Επομένως η ανάδειξη ενός άλλου τέλους (σκοπού) στην ύπαρξη δίνει νόημα που υπερβαίνει την ατομικότητα και ακυρώνει τον εκμηδενισμό της.

Το ερώτημα του έρωτα δηλώνει την ανεπάρκειά μας. Πάντα ατελείς στο να τον βιώσουμε, όπως μας αντιστοιχεί. Μια ατέλεια που δεν μπορεί να καταγραφεί με καταθλιπτικούς όρους, αλλά ως αυτογνωσία που αναγνωρίζει τους περιορισμούς για τη μετοχή στο θαύμα. Η συνειδητοποίηση της ανεπάρκειας για ευχαριστιακή βίωση του έρωτα, όσο και όπως το δικαιούμαστε, και ταυτόχρονα η συνειδητή απόφαση να μην παραιτηθούμε. Ερωτικοί ως τον θάνατο. Και τότε καταργείται ο θάνατος. Γιατί το θαύμα της ζωής, που υπερβαίνει το τυχαίο και το δοσμένο, δεν σβήνει ποτέ. Συντελείται σε μια σκυταλοδρομία που υπερβαίνει τις φθαρτές ατομικότητες. Και ο έρωτας είναι η πρόσκληση για να υπερβούμε την ατομική ανεπάρκεια για να συναντήσουμε τον πυρήνα της ζωής, που θα παραμείνει άφαντος, ακατανόητος, απερίφραστος, πάντα υπάρχων, ανέφικτος μέσα από τις γνώσεις και τις πληροφορίες.

Ο έρωτας δεν αφορά ένα συναίσθημα που προκύπτει κάτω από συγκεκριμένες συνθήκες, αλλά αποτελεί τη δυνατότητα να κατανοήσει κανείς εμπειρικά το νόημα της ύπαρξης. Η παραίτηση από το να είμαστε ερωτικοί, οδηγεί στην παραίτηση από την ίδια τη ζωή.

We always end up by having the appearance of our truths.

All those lives maintained in the rarefied air of the absurd could not persevere without some profound and constant thought to infuse its strength into them. Right here, it can be only a strange feeling of fidelity. Conscious men have been seen to fulfill their task amid the most stupid of wars without considering themselves in contradiction. This is because it was essential to elude nothing. There is thus a metaphysical honor in enduring the world’s absurdity. Conquest or play-acting, multiple loves, absurd revolt are tributes that man pays to his dignity in a campaign in which he is defeated in advance. It is merely a matter of being faithful to the rule of the battle. That thought may suffice to sustain a mind; it has supported and still supports whole civilizations. War cannot be negated. One must live it or die of it. So it is with the absurd: it is a question of breathing with it, of recognizing its lessons and recovering their flesh. In this regard the absurd joy par excellence is creation. 'Art and nothing but art,' said Nietzsche; 'we have art in order not to die of the truth.'

Yes, man is his own end. And he is his only end. If he aims to be something, it is in this life. Now I know it only too well. Conquerors sometimes talk of vanquishing and overcoming. But it is always ‘overcoming oneself’ that they mean. You are well aware of what that means.