In his 1799 book The Vocation of Man, German idealist philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte asks a series of pressing questions: Shall I eat and drink only that I may hunger and thirst and eat and drink again, till the grave which is open beneath my feet shall swallow me up, and I myself become the food of worms? Shall I beget beings like myself, that they too may eat and drink and die, and leave behind them beings like themselves to do the same that I have done? To what purpose this ever-revolving circle, this ceaseless and unvarying round, in which all things appear only to pass away, and pass away only that they may re-appear unaltered;—this monster continually devouring itself that it may again bring itself forth, and bringing itself forth only that it may again devour itself?
What’s the Point When There is No Point?
Thanks Michael!!!
That was fabulous, even for a CS Lewis fanboy.
Well done. May your autotelic writing bring you every exotelic fantasy you can imagine 🙏