12) The reason of man is just as weak and insignificant in comparison
(and in an infinite number of times more so) with that which is, as
is the reason (the means of perception) of a beetle and an amæba in
comparison with the reason of man. The reason of man in comparison,
not only with the highest reason, but with the reason which is higher
than his--is just the same as the understanding of a complicated
problem of higher mathematics or even of algebra for a man not knowing
mathematics, to whom it seems insoluble, as are the problems of the
infinity of space and time to us. While the problem is simple and
clear for one knowing mathematics. The difference is only in this,
that one can learn mathematics, but no study will help to solve the
problem of space and time. This is the limit of the possibility of
our knowledge under our reason.
13) I pray God that He release me from my suffering which tortures
_me_. But this suffering is sent to me by God in order to release
me from evil. The master whips his cattle with the whip in order to
drive them from the burning yard and save them, and the cattle pray
that he do not whip them.
14) There are common, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional,
misunderstandings of my opinions which I confess irritate me:
a) I say that God ... is not God and that God is that which alone
is--the unattainable good, the beginning of everything: against me
they say, that I deny God;
b) I say that one ought not to resist violence by violence: against
me they say, that I say it is not necessary to fight evil;
c) I say that one ought to strive towards chastity and that on this
road the highest grade will be virginity, and second a clean marriage,
the third not a clean, that is, not a monogamous marriage: against
me they say, that I deny marriage and I preach the destruction of
the human race.
d) I say that art is an infectious activity and that the more
infectious art is, the better it is. But that this activity be good
or bad, does not depend on how much it satisfies the demands of art,
i.e., its infectiousness, but on how much it satisfies the demands
of the religious consciousness, i.e., morality, conscience; against
me they say that I preach a _tendence_ art, etc.
15) Woman--and the legends say it also--is the tool of the devil.
She is generally stupid, but the devil lends her his brain when she
works for him. Here you see, she has done miracles of thinking,
far-sightedness, constancy, in order to do something nasty; but as
soon as something not nasty is needed, she cannot understand the
simplest thing; she cannot see farther than the present moment and
there is no self-control and no patience (except child-birth and
the care of children).
16) All this concerns women, un-Christians, unchaste women, as are
all the women of our Christian world. Oh, how I would like to show
to women all the significance of a chaste woman. A chaste woman (not
in vain is the legend of Mary) will save the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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