The despondency that follows makes me feel somewhat like a shipwrecked man who spies a sail, sees himself saved, and suddenly remembers that the lens of his spyglass has a flaw, a blurred spot -- the sail he has seen.
Jean GenetRead
I wanted to swallow myself by opening my mouth very wide and turning it over my head so that it would take in my whole body, and then the Universe, until all that would remain of me would be a ball of eaten thing which little by little would be annihilated: that is how I see the end of the world.
Interpretation
The quote expresses an intense desire for total dissolution and merging with the universe, reflecting existential themes.
This quote by Jean Genet conveys a profound longing for annihilation and unity with the cosmos. The imagery of swallowing oneself represents a wish to become one with everything, suggesting a deep existential questioning regarding existence, identity, and the end of the world. It emphasizes a sense of dissolution, not just physically but also in the context of the self and the universe, highlighting the inevitable fate of all beings.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about existentialism in a philosophy class.
The despondency that follows makes me feel somewhat like a shipwrecked man who spies a sail, sees himself saved, and suddenly remembers that the lens of his spyglass has a flaw, a blurred spot -- the sail he has seen.
Erotic play discloses a nameless world which is revealed by the nocturnal language of lovers. Such language is not written down. It is whispered into the ear at night in a hoarse voice. At dawn it is forgotten.
I'm homosexual. How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green.
I decided to be what crime made of me.
It's a true image, born of a false spectacle.
Anyone who hasn't experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.
The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.
If we do not live and manifest in our lives what we realize in our deepest moments of revelation, then we are living a split life.
Since Satan can't destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction or substitution.
I'm fascinated by the capacity to be able to do harm. I struggle every day with the ability of people to do evil. Not just the big things - the petty things that people do in order to make someone feel small, when it's so easy to do, and it hurts so much.
Wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds, love andcompassion would have built the defenses of peace.
A cat won't curry favor even if it's in their best interests to do so. A cat can't be a hypocrite. If more preachers were like cats, this would be a more religious country.
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