There is obviously something in
human beings which responds to this system, something they reflect and accommodate,
something within them which paralyses every effort of their better selves to
revolt. Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be
compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way.
Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time
alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a
degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people’s own failure
as individuals.
Down the River of Pseudo-life
The essential aims of life are
present naturally in every person. In everyone there is some longing for
humanity’s rightful dignity, for moral integrity, for free expression of being
and a sense of transcendence over the world of existence. Yet, at the same
time, each person is capable, to a greater or lesser degree, of coming to terms
with living within the lie. Each person somehow succumbs to a profane trivialization
of his or her inherent humanity, and to utilitarianism. In everyone there is
some willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably
along with it down the river of pseudo-life. This is much more than a simple
conflict between two identities. It is something far worse: it is a challenge
to the very notion of identity itself.
Havel, Vaclav (1986) The Power of
the Powerless. In “Living with Truth.”
London and Boston: Faber and faber. p.53-54.
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