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
As a social concept, 'white' is profound in its meaning. It means people who either come from or appear to come from Europe, but it's necessarily a construct of oppression.
Those spacious regions where our fancies roam,_x000D_ _x000D_ Pain'd by the past, expecting ills to come,_x000D_ _x000D_ In some dread moment, by the fates assign'd,_x000D_ _x000D_ Shall pass away, nor leave a rack behind;_x000D_ _x000D_ And Time's revolving wheels shall lose at last_x000D_ _x000D_ The speed that spins the future and the past:_x000D_ _x000D_ And, sovereign of an undisputed throne,_x000D_ _x000D_ Awful eternity shall reign alone.
Each thing that exists remains forever, and that very existence of existence is proof of its eternity. But without that realization, which is the knowledge of perfect being, man would never know whether there was existence or non-existence. If eternal existence is altered, then it must become more beautiful; and if it disappears, it must return with more sublime image; and if it sleeps, it must dream of a better awakening, for it is ever greater upon its rebirth.
Our birth is nothing but our death begun, As tapers waste the moment they take fire.
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.
Service is the rent we pay for living.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.