Sam, I am amazed that you pulled out an incident that is only one of so many themes/lessons in “The Idiot”. I think that Dostoyevsky threw this “kitchen sink” at us as a madman would. It is for us to find our “cherry” and chew on it. You found one that you most likely could relate to in your life experience. I keep thinking what it takes for me to break a habit like minimizing small screen time.
I’ve spent this year thinking about the continuity of time. What is the connection between the past, present, and future. The modern world teaches us that our individual lives matter more than our collective lives. The man’s five minutes was a feeble, last moment effort to make his life matter. However, if we are serious about our lives, we will realize that the life we have has been given to us, for good or ill, by those who came before us. The lesson to learn is that our lives matter to the generations to follow. The continuity of time is realized by our generational memory. In those five minutes, the man reached for but could not ultimately grasp this truth.
Thank you Sam for another brilliant breaching into the core of conscience ! I felt fear as your tale began slowly exposing my own inner dread, that the life clock in my brain was continually adjusting its speed, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but that no matter what happens in the end I will arrive at exactly where I am supposed to be, when it's time.
I had that thought, and then I realized; the thought had me.
You're motivating me to finally pick up Dostoevsky again man, that's beautiful! I get lost in meaningless "busy" work way too often, it's time to let some idiocy take over again.
I read a book once about extreme sport athletes. Big wave surfers, white water kayakers, free climbers, base jumpers, big mountain skiers, the kinds of people doing activities that normal people consider "crazy." The universal draw of these people to their activities wasn't that they had a "death wish" but that they had a "life wish." They believed that the closer to death they came, the more alive they felt. They were chasing that higher level of consciousness, the flow, that came to them when every little thing they did mattered to keeping them alive. Maybe this is the same level of consciousness Dostoyevsky's condemned man was feeling?
Sam, I am amazed that you pulled out an incident that is only one of so many themes/lessons in “The Idiot”. I think that Dostoyevsky threw this “kitchen sink” at us as a madman would. It is for us to find our “cherry” and chew on it. You found one that you most likely could relate to in your life experience. I keep thinking what it takes for me to break a habit like minimizing small screen time.
If you ever find that answer to minimizing small screen time, please share! Thanks
I’ve spent this year thinking about the continuity of time. What is the connection between the past, present, and future. The modern world teaches us that our individual lives matter more than our collective lives. The man’s five minutes was a feeble, last moment effort to make his life matter. However, if we are serious about our lives, we will realize that the life we have has been given to us, for good or ill, by those who came before us. The lesson to learn is that our lives matter to the generations to follow. The continuity of time is realized by our generational memory. In those five minutes, the man reached for but could not ultimately grasp this truth.
Thank you Sam for another brilliant breaching into the core of conscience ! I felt fear as your tale began slowly exposing my own inner dread, that the life clock in my brain was continually adjusting its speed, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but that no matter what happens in the end I will arrive at exactly where I am supposed to be, when it's time.
I had that thought, and then I realized; the thought had me.
You're motivating me to finally pick up Dostoevsky again man, that's beautiful! I get lost in meaningless "busy" work way too often, it's time to let some idiocy take over again.
I read a book once about extreme sport athletes. Big wave surfers, white water kayakers, free climbers, base jumpers, big mountain skiers, the kinds of people doing activities that normal people consider "crazy." The universal draw of these people to their activities wasn't that they had a "death wish" but that they had a "life wish." They believed that the closer to death they came, the more alive they felt. They were chasing that higher level of consciousness, the flow, that came to them when every little thing they did mattered to keeping them alive. Maybe this is the same level of consciousness Dostoyevsky's condemned man was feeling?