Sun Down Honey, Moon Up In Wine
You want if possible —
and there is no more insane “if possible” —
to abolish suffering.
And we?
It really seems that we would rather have it
higher and worse than ever.
Well-being as you understand it —
that seems to us an end, a state that makes humanity
ridiculous and contemptible —
that makes his destruction desirable.
The discipline of suffering, of great suffering —
do you not know that only this discipline has created
all the enhancements of humankind so far?
That tension of the soul in unhappiness that cultivates its strength,
it shudders face to face with great ruin,
its inventiveness and courage in enduring,
persevering, interpreting, and exploiting suffering,
and whatever has been granted to it
of profundity, secret, mask, cunning, greatness —
was it not granted to it through suffering,
through the discipline of great suffering?
—excerpt Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche §225
I continue to miss Al. This is the first time for me that death takes by surprise a friend. I have thought on occasion before — it is up to those who remain in this world, to sum up, to assess the weight of a life that has reached completion. I know that Al would agree, were he to speak, with the wisdom of these words penned by Nietzsche. It seems unnatural, ill informed to fetishize suffering. However there is no better, no more necessary teacher.
As one who attended performances by The Grateful Dead as opportunity afforded, this tune, Al would have known well. C’mon children, c’mon children… Shall we enjoy, even dance?
