And so everything I see in this world, it all moves backward and forward at the same time, like a black-smith's bellows, like everything in my press, turning into its opposite at the command of the red and green buttons, and that's what makes the world go round.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that everything in the world is in a constant state of change, moving in opposing directions simultaneously.
Bohumil Hrabal's quote reflects on the duality of existence, portraying a world where contrasting forces are always at play. It draws a vivid image of the interplay between opposites—like the bellows of a blacksmith, which inflate and deflate—suggesting that this dynamic is fundamental to the rhythm of life itself. The mention of 'red and green buttons' symbolizes the choices and commands that drive these transformations, ultimately capturing the complex nature of reality where things often become their opposite.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of reality, this quote could help illustrate the concept of duality.
Let us have compassion for those under chastisement. Alas, who are we ourselves? Who am I and who are you? Whence do we come and is it quite certain that we did nothing before we were born? This earth is not without some resemblance to a gaol. Who knows but that man is a victim of divine justice? Look closely at life. It is so constituted that one senses punishment everywhere.
I am certain no one sets out to be cruel, but our treatment of the elderly ill seems to have no philosophy to it. As a society, we should establish whether we have a policy of life at any cost.
Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.
It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
What does it say about a society that it devotes more care and patience to the selection of those who handle its money than of those who handle its children?
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