Is there not a sort of remorse that precedes sin? Was it remorse at the very fact that I existed?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that feelings of guilt or remorse can exist even before one commits a wrongdoing, questioning the nature of existence itself.
Yukio Mishima's quote reflects on the complex emotions that arise from self-awareness and existence. It suggests that the awareness of one's existence may bring about a sense of guilt or remorse, hinting at an internal conflict where one feels a pre-emptive guilt not necessarily tied to actions taken but rather as a fundamental aspect of the human condition. This contemplation of sin and existence raises deep philosophical questions about morality and consciousness.
In practice
In a lecture about the moral implications of our choices, this quote could open a discussion about the nature of guilt and existence.
What I wanted was to die among strangers, untroubled, beneath a cloudless sky. And yet my desire differed from the sentiments of that ancient Greek who wanted to die under the brilliant sun. What I wanted was some natural, spontaneous suicide. I wanted a death like that of a fox, not yet well versed in cunning, that walks carelessly along a mountain path and is shot by a hunter because of its own stupidity.
a samurai is a total human being, whereas a man who is completely absorbed in his technical skill has degenerated into a ‘function’, one cog in a machine.
When a captive lion steps out of his cage, he comes into a wider world than the lion who has known only the wilds. While he was in captivity, there were only two worlds for him - the world of the cage, and the world outside the cage. Now he is free. He roars. He attacks people. He eats them. Yet he is not satisfied, for there is no third world that is neither the world of the cage nor the world outside the cage.
…the samurai ethic is a political science of the heart, designed to control such discouragement and fatigue in order to avoid showing them to others. It was thought more important to look healthy than to be healthy, and more important to seem bold and daring than to be so. This view of morality, since it is physiologically based on the special vanity peculiar to men, is perhaps the supreme male view of morality.
Young people get the foolish idea that what is new for them must be new for everybody else too. No matter how unconventional they get, they're just repeating what others before them have done.
Anything can become excusable when seen from the standpoint of the result
Now I am discovering the world once more. England has widened my horizon.
We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved.
The discovery of personal whiteness among the world's peoples is a very modern thing - a nineteenth and twentieth century matter, indeed. The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction.
The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.
Wars are fought for the benefit of oligarchs, triumphs bought with the blood of peons.
To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man.
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