The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives.
Georges BatailleRead
Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that even in the face of death, embracing eroticism is an affirmation of life.
Georges Bataille's statement highlights the idea that the experience of eroticism represents a deep connection to life itself, even when confronted with the inevitability of death. It suggests that the pursuit of pleasure and passion can serve as a powerful affirmation of existence, emphasizing the duality of life and death where the acceptance of one includes an appreciation of the other.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the philosophy of existentialism in a literature class.
The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives.
A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.
I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.
What does physical eroticism signify if not a violation of the very being of its practitioners? β A violation bordering on death, bordering on murder?
It is clear that the world is purely parodic, that each thing seen is the parody of another, or is the same thing in a deceptive form.
I think that knowledge enslaves us, that at the base of all knowledge there is a servility, the acceptation of a way of life wherein each moment has meaning only in relation to another or others that will follow it.
A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.
Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance.
The true mystic is always both humble and compassionate, for she knows that she does not know.
Look at Satan. Created as an angel, grows up to be the Great Adversary. Hey, if youβre going to go on about genetics, you might as well say the kid will grow up to be an angel. After all, his father was really big in Heaven in the old days. Saying heβll grow up to be a demon just because his dad became one is like saying a mouse with its tail cut off will give birth to tailless mice. No. Upbringing is everything. Take it from me.
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.
To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.