Re: Quoting Nietzsche is a perilous business

From: scerir (scerir@libero.it)
Date: Mon Jan 07 2002 - 04:00:19 MST


> The deep abyss is never nice when one first meets it.
> It's terrifying. Most people's biggest fear when they
> encounter the abyss is that they will fall forever
> in that place. Writers talk about it.

'Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! How hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more ...'
   (La Divina Commedia, Inferno, I, incipit)

> But in order to first discover the 'essence' (for lack
> of a better word) of who one is, one must first decide
> to live, that is, take responsibility for one's life.
> From that point on, then you're building something.
> Your awareness brings particular items into your world,
> you choose to keep it or discard it, and, along the way,
> you discover 'you'.

'The Guide and I into that hidden road
Now entered, to return to the bright world;
And without care of having any rest
We mounted up, the first and I the second,
Till I beheld through a round aperture
Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;
Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.'
       (Inferno, XXXIV, 133-139)



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