Tuesday, April 26, 2011

R & R



Almost every line of this, except for ones that are needed to give the impression of being part of the narrative, are direct quotations from Sartre. It helps, in viewing this, if you do not understand French. Otherwise you may experience clashing forces in your head. Enjoy! I hope the anguish is not too much for you! (Hat tip to Nat Hunt for the link.)

4 comments:

Todd said...

I get the feeling this person generally hates man-kind.

I liked the following phrase (rephrased) "life has no meaning the moment you accept the illusion of being eternal"

Nat said...

Todd: I could be totally wrong here, but I think what you're taking as misanthropy is actually his emphasis on death as part of our identity. I've got almost no idea what that quote meant, but it was probably something about how knowledge of the inevitability of death is fundamentally what motivates our actions and gives our lives meaning. Nothing can be done to avoid death, and forgetting this means forgetting what's really important. Depressing, probably, but misantrhopic, no.

Todd said...

Likewise, I am at a loss for what he was actually trying to say, but what I feel I did understand, I simply didn't like.

"all actions are equivalent and are on principal doomed to failure." If I understood this, it is pretty close to misanthropy. If this was said to me at a cocktail party I'd be looking for this person to jump out a window.

I rephrase the quote in a religious sense. Life doesn't have much worth if you have an after life where you'll live for infinity in a heaven or hell. Life is simply a means to get to heaven or hell. The 9/11 suicide pilots are a good example this.

Max said...

"Anything would be better than this agony of mind… this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles… and caresses one and never hurts quite enough."

Perhaps Sartre was experimenting with some kind of psychedelic drug but not having a good time?

This is hilarious.