Through morality
the individual is instructed
to be a function of the herd
and only to attribute value
to himself
as a function.

Freedom assumes,
if not the individual,
at least life is not necessary
as a value.

It assumes therefore
that one place one’s life at stake
(it is not necessary)
at the individual level.

It is
the non-membership
in the system.

Hence
the feeling of cold,
of the death of God,
of infinite surpassing
(without which we would fall)

The crucial moment
of
autonomy.

-excerpt On Nietzsche, Notes, by Georges Bataille, p. 335

These lines are written near the conclusion of Bataille’s book.  It is a dark assessment of morality.  Morality, a standard of right behavior, our responsibility toward others is nothing but a learned complex of response to “the herd,” requisite language and gesture to “fit in,” to become the herd-mammal that I am…

A medical diagnosis of disease if not “good news” though useful, is solid ground upon which I can stand.  Now what?  What is to be done?  Shall I continue to be a functional herd animal?   This, this pivot point, this fork-in-the road…  What do I/you want?  This obsession with following what “the other” desires of me…  Che vuoi?  What am I for others?

What is worth sacrificing my life for, living and dying for?  What is worth the stake of my life?  Is the answer to come from God communicating — by the mouth of a pastor, by the writings in a holy book, by some secular standard of success, by devotion to a sports team, by compulsion with Tik Tok…  No doubt the offers in exchange for a life are many.

The writer, Bataille, suggests one renounce one’s membership in “the system,” to desist being a herd animal.  There is no deity, or will-of-God, no “membership” that is worth the most precious possession that we could ever have.

This one magnificent life.

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This tune by Triumph seems right for today.  Hold On, you and I will reach the other side of this experience called life.