Joseph Conrad
Yes, egoism is good, and altruism is good, and fidelity to nature would be the best of all ... if we could only get rid of consciousness. What makes mankind tragic is not that they are the victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it. To be part of the animal kingdom under the conditions of this earth is very well—but as soon as you know of your slavery, the pain, the anger, the strife—the tragedy begins. We can’t return to nature, since we can’t change our place in it. Our refuge is in stupidity ... There is no morality, no knowledge, and no hope; there is only the consciousness of ourselves which drives us about a world that ... is always but a vain and floating appearance.
There's a huge difference between:
• education and intelligence
• knowledge and information
• understanding and memorization
• learning and studying
• ignorance and stupidity
Richard P. Feynman
What made me this stupidly attracted to him? He’s just another boy! Another, rather talented, rather well mannered and slightly better looking boy. That was it!
What was it about him that makes me become so foolish around him and why do I keep doing things to embarra.s.s myself only in front of him?
Beginning after the end ...
25 Ekim 1920 güncesinde sorar:
“Why is life so tragic? So like a little strip of pavement over an abyss? I look down; I feel giddy; I wonder how I am ever to walk to the end... Like a lantern stood in the middle of a field my life goes up in darknes... Unhappiness is everywhere; just beyond the door; or stupidity which is worse.”
(Yaşam neden bu denli trajik? Neden bir uçurumun üstündeki küçük bir kaldırım şeridine benziyor? Aşağıya bakıyorum, başım dönüyor. Sonuna dek nasıl yürüyebileceğim diye merak ediyorum... Bir tarlanın ortasına konulan bir fener gibi, ışığım karanlığa boğuluyor... Mutsuzluk her yerde; tam kapının arkasında; ya da mutsuzluktan beter olan ahmaklık. )
Birkaç hafta sonra, 10 Kasım 1920 tarihli güncesinde, aşağıdaki uçuruma düşmeden, bu daracık kaldırımda biraz ilerleyebildiğini yazar.
Sayfa 35 - Yapı Kredi YayınlarıKitabı okuyacak
Race, faith, gender, sexuality, those things make me impatient, said
Victor. We need to move forward, and faster. I want an end to it all, don’t
you see?
An end to the human, I said.
An end to human stupidity, said Victor.
