Motto:
“The will of God the creator has defeated the nothing. However, man’s will has not managed to succeed. [...] Nature is perfect in its own way, nature is what it is. Man however must then become who he is. He may fail as he has failed before – falling into sin. [...] The only reason he can find is above himself – God. His own will must be voluntarily released to God’s will. It is dangerous arrogance to go against this arbitrarily. Because it is a false majesty to break away from your ancestors; your soul must be rooted in them to some extent to become its own reason. This happens when the soul is all too fond of itself.” (Rüdiger Safranski: Evil or the drama of freedom)
Oh, happy times, oh happy Augustine! Because what happens when soulessness pleases itself too much? Well, we’re left with what we have today. Of course, even Attila couldn’t see the party in the sky every night, only that the fabric of the law was always bursting apart somewhere. But there’s a party in the sky every night.
“Gaping I stood / and shouted of happiness: / there is a party in the sky a party every night! / And then the sense of the great old secret / lit up in my mind, / the fairies of heaven, just like in a city, / go home at dawn / on the lamp-lit boulevards of eternity. […] Look here, I know there is nothing for me to believe in / and I know that before long I shall be leaving, / but stretching my heart to be a string / to the azure I started to sing / to him I search for in vain as alive or when dead later / whom no one knows where to find here or in the ether. / But now as my muscles get softer just / so I have a feeling my friend, that in the dust, / where I was groping by clogs of earth and souls / I was the guest of a grand and unknown Lord.”
[“Daybreak Drunkenness” Dezső Kosztolányi, English translation by Tamás Kabdebó]
Indeed, we on this earth are the guests of some grand, unknown Lord. That is why Luke, the ancient Bolshevik, wanted to erase Kosztolányi from this world as well. After all, the nobodies can’t deal with that either. That party in the sky. Because that party does not offer beer, nor sausage, nor wurst, nor release. That’s where a nobody realizes that they are incapable of accepting and handling any kind of hierarchy. Because, if there is a hierarchy, that certain nobody immediately ends up at the bottom. That’s why he needs to break all the rules, disturb the order, deny God and declare that every person is equal. But, oh no… A nobody can only become somebody if they make everybody else a nobody. If they do away with anything majestic, and completely erase the past. If Michelangelo was merely a carpenter, then anybody can be anything. That’s what a phalanstère is for. It was invented by – who else – Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist. That was his big, beautiful dream to save mankind, that one day, this phalanstère would be the “seed” of society. We will live beautiful lives together in these large, shared housing and work campuses, where we all do the work that suits us best and everyone benefits equally. Our Madách [Hungarian writer, poet, lawyer, politician] who, unlike Fourier, knew very well that there is a party in the sky every night, saw the real essence of the phalanstère:
[…]
Adam
Where are we now? What people's this, what land?
Lucifer
Land, people, are conceptions obsolete.
Was it not small to speak of fatherland?
Was it not with blind prejudice replete?
And did not narrow minds keep it alive?
All of the wide world through which we roam
Henceforth, forever, is all mankind's home,
In one great work all men associate,
One great thought in all minds reverberate,
And o'er the order which throughout obtains,
Science, honored, strict scrutiny maintains.
[...]
Savant
Our one idea is, a livelihood.
When man first came to earth, ages ago,
A well filled larder he found here below,
He had but to reach out his hand, and all
Was his and was within his beckon's call,
He could afford to live in thoughtless ease,
Just as the skipper lives within the cheese;
Had time, adventurous hypotheses
To build up and therein to find the spice
Of life and poetry too, as its prize.
But we must frugal be because we fear
That to our final crumb we're coming near.
And soon our cheese devoured, what follows then?
To starve must be the lot of thoughtless men?
In just four thousand years, it is foretold
The sun will have cooled off, the earth not hold
Life animate and naught on it will grow.
Four thousand years are ours, so much we know.
We'll learn it yet, I have but little doubt
To make a sun anew and live without
[…]
Savant
This one shall a physician be in time,
This one in pastures roam and trees shall climb.
Old Man
Take them away.
(The children are to be taken away, Eve interferes.)
Eve
I earnestly protest!
Who dares to tear my child thus from my breast!
Old Man
Take them away! who dares to disobey?
Eve
My darling child, I nursed thee night and day
With my heart's blood. Where is the brutal heart
Those sacred ties would rend, and dear ones part
Forever. To thee then must I say good-bye.
Lost in the crowd, thee nevermore espy?
Adam
If of all holy feeling not bereft,
Then with its mother let this child be left.
Eve
Ah! yes, 'tis so, thou stranger bless'd!
Induce these men to yield to my request.
Old Man
A daring game thou play'st. If we again
The prejudice of family entertain!
The structure holy science built with care
Is quickly overthrown; therefore beware!
[The Tragedy of Man Imre Madách]
Well, we’ve arrived to the current day. “Was it not small to speak of the fatherland? Was it not with blind prejudice replete? And did not narrow minds keep it alive? All of the wide world through which we roam. Henceforth, forever, is all mankind's home, In one great work all men associate” – incredible… and of course these world saviors made Fourier’s phalanstère a reality. Stalin came along and with him those hundreds of housing complexes that were “scientifically invented”. For instance, without kitchens and dining rooms in apartments, people (families) wouldn’t have to come together every night to eat and chat – because naturally that only causes problems. And the working complexes were made a reality as well, just much more efficiently than Fourier could have dreamed of. They were called Gulags, and if the world had ever seen efficient and cheap labor, that was it.
Furthermore, “If we again The prejudice of family entertain! The structure holy science built with care Is quickly overthrown”. And how true this is. Here’s a fresh example of what has developed with “the holy science”:
“Although there have been few examples of female uterus transplants thus far, the scientific community is already considering whether artificial intervention would be possible. In a study published in the Acta Biomedica journal, two professors from the University of Sapienzia of Rome, are contemplating how the possibility of giving birth can bring joy to a man who considers himself to be a woman. Federica Umani Ronchi and Gabriele Napoletano, two researchers from the university, debate the possibilities of transplanting a womb into a man in the journal. They started from the premise that organ transplants in women who were previously unable to give birth resulted in higher satisfaction and quality of life. They added that artificial intervention in transgender women is in the experimental phase. There is a growing desire from men who are transitioning to women for a womb so that they can feel even more like a woman. The final conclusion is that if uterine transplantation is feasible and serves the fulfillment of desires, even fathers can give birth. Certain medical experts provide counterpoints, but there is no mention of these. As transgender women are gaining more and more rights, if uterine transplantation were to become a right, male motherhood would not be morally debatable either. It is undeniable that the bioethical rules currently in force need to be radically updated. The assumptions ignore the rights, desires and needs of the offspring.”
I hope this is understandable. And of course, Adam had it easy because when the phalanstère-scholar proclaimed the verdict that “a fanatical man and a nervous woman gave birth to a freak generation, this is a bad coupling,” Lucifer simply carried on his work. (On into space. Into nothing.)
But we will remain. And we’ll look on, fearing if this whole sh...tshow will return – as Marx predicted. Or just the opposite. (To be continued.)
Photo: Unsplash
