“Since a genuine, lasting happiness is not possible, it cannot be a subject of art” (Page 320). Therefore art can only be used as a means of momentary harmony with the sorrows of the will. The acquisition of desires and wishes can only relieve us as long as the remembrance of the anguish from before is ever present in our minds. After this acquisition and after the remembrance fades away, more desire consumes us; music, particularly, starts in a certain key, meanders in such a melody as to touch the core of the subject, and subsequently returns to the original key, therefore returning the subject to the state of inadequacy the he or she was experiencing before (Page 320).
If we can accept this as true—that will inevitably leads us to suffering with promise of only momentary relief—the only escape is to reject will completely. “No will: no representation, no world” (Page 411). To be delivered from will, we must resist the temptation of “flattery of the moment, the allurement of hope, and the satisfaction of the will offering itself again and again… For this reason, all those allurements have in this respect been personified as the devil” (Page 392). Being that art is a form of “flattery of the moment”, we can consider it as temptation—personified as the devil.
In conclusion, Schopenhauer is asking us to reject the world as will and representation.My question, of course, is the all time, age-old one: if I am to deny will itself, then aren’t I just fulfilling my will? For example, I can reject that will has caused a death in the family, but in doing so I’ve only willed myself into illusion. To deny the will-to-live, I deny all the temptations of nourishment from food and water, from affection, and from everything necessary to fuel my apparently nonexistent body. Therefore, the only true way to deny will is to defy the rules under which this world apparently dictates. The problem with this, however, is the fact that though there may be a perfect refrain from indulging in temptation, there still remains an imminent reaction for the necessities to stay alive. In my action of refraining from temptation, in denying the will-to-live, I embrace the will-to-die (for doesn’t human nature also consist of the will to suffer?)
I would like to add another critique:
ReplyDeleteIf we can resist the will to nourish our bodies with food and water, then aren't we allowing some other will to dictate our actions?