"The main reason I have a hard time getting along with these men is their indecisiveness. They feel when they ought to think, and vice versa. All they have inherited from Socrates is scepticism, but, unlike Xenophon, they would not hoist him on their shoulders and carry him out of the fighting. Convinced as they are of the temporal and finite nature of things, they shy away from pain, sacrifice, devotion."Ernst Jünger, Eumeswil (1977)
Excellent quote.
ReplyDeleteYes, a good one!
ReplyDeleteTons more on my Juenger blog ;-)
Actually, a bit of context as to who "these men" are is critical:
ReplyDelete"If my dear brother had any inkling of what I toss away en passant, he would be through with me for good. I would have laid hands on his most hallowed treasure. "Freedom of the press" and "capital punishment"-I usually give these phrases a wide berth at the family table, for were I to voice even the slightest criticism, the game could be up for me altogether.
He would never get it into his head that freedom begins where freedom of the press ends. "Freedom of thought"-this me ans that he would never test his stale ideas in a state of primeval &eedom. I am willing to grant that he is rooted in liberal traditions, although they are more diluted and mitigated in hirn than in my genitor. Even good ideas have their time. Liberalism is to freedom as anarchism is to anarchy.
Cadmo, to enlighten me, often takes me along to his "Storm Companions:' I am not really welcome there-perhaps they even regard me as an agent of the Domo, who, by the by, knows about their meetings but considers them irrelevant, indeed almost useful. "A barking dog never bites:'
The main reason I have a hard time getting along with these men is their indecisiveness. They feel when they ought to think, and vice versa. All they have inherited from Socrates is skepticism; but, unlike Xenophon, they would not hoist him on their shoulders and carry hirn out of the fighting. Convinced as they are of the temporal and finite nature of things, they shy away &om pain, sacrifice, devotion."