Letting Go Of My Principles
I can only be this whole man, by letting go.
I cannot be that being through my will: my will is necessarily a will to succeed!
If misfortune (or chance) wants me to let go,
then I would know that I am the whole man,
subordinated to nothing.
In other words, a moment of revolt inherent in the will-to-understand
beyond practical ends cannot be prolonged indefinitely:
to be the whole of the universe man/woman must let go of his/her principles:
accepting nothing that he/she is other than the tendency to go beyond what he/she is.
This being that I am is the revolt of being,
undefined desire.
God was only a stage for this being,
and is now, grown through a measureless experience,
comically perched on a stake.
–excerpt On Nietzsche, Response to Jean-Paul Sartre, by Georges Bataille, Trans. by Stuart Kendall, p. 180
Today is Saturday. I feel stronger. Recovery from Covid continues apace. (I hope)
Laura, after reading the Bataille quotation posted yesterday commented that she was not sure she understood the meaning, and read the quotation a second time. I replied that I have read the quotation many times and each time, I understand something new. Perhaps that is as it needs to be. Everything is many-sided and I inhabit the angle of view, a composite of the “Jerry-experience” which is different with each day… You can easily see how much room there is for many interpretations, all of which have some weight…
Learned that the House of Representatives now has a Speaker, upon the 15th vote. And the speaker is, wait for it… Kevin McCarthy. The ultra conservative wing of the party formerly known as Republican, held the unseated members of the House of Representatives hostage for several days of intra-party verbal assault, Ad Hominem (name calling), of a public display of their might-makes-right ideology. There’s C-span so there was no need to wait for the second hand reports.
This week’s copy of Bloomberg Businessweek arrived in the mail today. On the cover is a picture of Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis aspires to be the heir to Trumpism, — the “yo-motha!”, spite filled model of White Nationalism, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-education, anti-woman, pro-militarism, pro-authoritarian style of governing… Ought I to worry? Of course. What can we do? Perhaps time will tell.
To conclude, the MAGA-tribe, what they represent is the anti-thesis of the state-of-being described in the above quotation from Bataille. Shaping reality by exercise of the will, or as expressed by film maker Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will is a long term losing proposition.
Desire to be a whole man or woman? Practice letting go! I did not say that is easy. Life is hard. That is why you and I must practice…
It feels like a counter weight to the material just written is in order. This tune provides reminder that all is not conflict, piss, shit and vitriol… B.J. Thomas great anthem, Rock and Roll Lullaby!
