Franz Kafka- The Fasting Artist

Another short story marvel. Here goes.

Can you be honest about a dishonesty? To be perfectly transparent, I did register a hint of disappointment at the end of this tale when I realised the truth.

The man was to me, a fraud. He was honest about a dishonesty. This dishonesty was his whole life. It informed others of him. Can one thing make a man? Can one thing break a man? Yes, it does and it did. It broke and hollowed him out to the core.

He never wanted to fast. It was forced upon him and yet often he adopted a "holier than thou" attitude which was best brought out by comparison with the guards who doubted him and yet they couldn't have lasted the night and executed their duties if they had not been nourished.

Yet again, was it a true blue dishonesty? Or did he choose this fate because he was simply too choosy by nature.

Yet the paradox continues for he is honest about it. He is honest about the rules and formalities. He sticks to his craft/ art lawfully and is even ambitious about it. Is this akin to Kant's conception of "A truly virtuous act" whereby it is born out of duty (which he sees his art as) and not personal inclination.

The last point that struck me is how we are all innately attracted to the gory. We all seek and obtain some form of perverse pleasure from experiencing rationed-out and controlled fear. He is the embodiment of what would be. He is the gory spectacular which would have no meaning if we did not feel this particular inclination.
He is still an enigma to me. I hope one day, I will gather the full picture.

The Circle

Love is selfish
Only within our circle, are we both happy
If we even know what happiness is
Once out, we are no longer on the same track
My happiness with someone else makes you sad
And vice versa

Our happiness together deprives others
If we even know what happiness is
This would make a bad song
As many thing in life do
I ask myself, do I know what love is
I dare say that I don't
I know what it means to love
But of Love, it eludes me
I only know when I am within our circle
Yet when I am, I am blind
When I leave, I am bitter
I do not know what Love is

Our love exists in the circle
Yet it lives in reality
Within our circle, all is possible
In reality, possible is not all
Our circle collides with other circles
Each testing its limits and strengths
Reality exists in time
Time, time binds us
I wanted to be with her
It was too soon
Time, it controls us
Because we will die
So we let time play us
It dictates us
Too soon, too late
It speaks to us
Not right, good or perfect
We measure ourselves on its scale
It is timing
Good timing makes the good "perfect"
Bad timing makes it not to be
Yet we were the masters of time
We gave it meaning and set it free upon ourselves

Time, when you have more of it, it becomes pointless
When you have little of it, time is all you think about
Not so much what you can do with it
But how it slips away
You do so much yet all the while at the back of your mind, you worry
How it slips away

Time, does not make how you feel
If you don't feel how you are supposed to, it is a bad feeling
Others get with the time's programme
If you don't, you feel bad
Yet again, we have lost control

Full Nelson

I won't say that this Indie film is good. It is just that it leaves food for thought. Of course it helps that Ryan Gosling is the lead.

But onto the "smart stuff"..... He says "One thing doesn't make a man" or so he says.

This is true and false at the same time.

Dunne's addiction is but one thing. Yes, it does not make him. His mind, his teaching and many more aspects all make him. Not just that one thing. So this is true.

But yet it is so wrong. It is precisely the nature of that one thing which breaks him. As Epicurus would criticize, that one pleasure of his is not within his control. Worst still, it is beyond his control and controls him. Not only that, it also compromises all other pleasures (like having a meaningful relationship, like being able to function normally and healthily throughout the day)

Thus the danger is apparent to see as it is not the quantity but the nature of it all. The nature of one thing that may break a man.