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When reading this article, I was reminded of a passage from Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground": "But I repeat for the one-hundredth time, there is one case, only one, when a man may intentionally, consciously desire something even something harmful to himself, something stupid, even very stupid, namely: in order to have the right to desire something even very stupid and not be bound by an obligation to desire only what's smart. After all, this very stupid thing, one's own whim, gentlemen, may in fact be the most advantageous thing on earth for people like me, especially in certain cases. In particular, it may be more advantageous than any other advantage, even in a case where it causes obvious harm and contradicts the most sensible conclusions of reason about advantage - because in any case it preserves for us what's most important and precious, that is, our personality and our individuality.
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I believe this, I vouch for it, because, after all, the whole of man's work seems to consist only in proving to himself constantly that he's a man and not an organ stop! Even if he has to lose his own skin, he'll prove it, even if he has to become a troglodyte, he'll prove it." |