328
DOC. 337
MAY
1917
allegro
to
the 5th
[symphony]
for such
a
gnat,
it would be
over
in
one minute,
otherwise it would
mistake
it
for
a
funeral march in
C
major.[5]
Well,
time
really
does
depend upon
motion!
But
we
do
not notice
it!
And
motorcar
driving
was a
fleeting pleasure
nonetheless.
(Now
it
is
getting
more
and
more
nonsensical and
muddled;
I
think
you
should
not read
on.
But
ultimately,
all
thoughts
arise from elements of
lunacy;
it
is
only
the critical
cement which
is
lacking
here to
glue
them
together.)
4.
One
thing
which
is
entirely
unrelated
and
yet
which
seems
to
me
to have
a
remote connection:
I
have
always
had
an
emotional resistance to
the
entropy
business.
It
seems
to
me as
if
it
were
correct
only
inside
a
bathtub. And
moreover:
What
happens
to
rays
of
light
that
go
out into
the
distance
without
ever meeting
an
object?
As
long
as
there
is
a
medium:
fine.
But
why
should
it
not
come
to
an
end-or
be
interrupted?
5.
A
metaphysical frivolity: My
senses
tell
me
that
everything
is at rest
in
the
absolute.
Illustration-somewhat
in
our
Lord’s
spirit:
a
trip
to
Italy.
I
travel
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
land, experience
it
minute
by minute, register
it,
and
cut it
up
into sections. I
come
home and have
a
concept of: Italy.
An
impression
like
the
taste
of
a
fruit
or
the
character
of
a
woman.
I
can
scroll
through
it
again
(using
the
memory
sections)
and do
so
when
I
want
to
answer
individual
questions.
But
otherwise,
Italy
rests within
me,
is
present, alive,
and
yet
motionless.
I
possess
the
whole
(unfortunately
only figuratively speaking,
since
travel
and
life
are
finite)-or I
possess
at
least
a
whole.
Your
illustration
of
the
two
flashes of
lightning
and
the
train
really
gripped
me
here[6]
(incidentally,
I turn
it into
two dynamite explosions
and
a czar
train).
What startles the
czar
twice
is
only
a
single
matter
for
the
assassin. His rest
(in
both
senses)
is
greater.
Now I
expand
further.
The assassin
stands
outside
the
train.
Now I
place
him
beyond
the
Earth’s
rotation;
then
beyond
the Earth’s
orbit;
then
beyond
the
translation;
then
beyond-etc. Will
the
man
not
be
surrounded
by
an ever
deeper
silence?
Another
sidetrack: Time
(epistemologically)
dissipates.
It
only
comes
into
existence,
so
to
speak,
through
motion.
Motion, however,
has
time
as
its
precon-
dition
again,
for
it
is
s/t.
Would
we
not have to find
a way
out
(epistemologically)
by conceiving
of motion
as a
manifestation
of
force
(thus
obversely
to
normally),
so we
merely
note
that
elements
containing varying
amounts of force
(metaphys-
ical
charge)
exist-thus
ultimately
a
kind of
monadology
would
emerge?
Now,
enough
of
this.
Instead
of cheerful
thanks
I
have
given you a
pathologia
mentalis,
which must have
appalled
you.
Nevertheless,
I
am
sending
the letter
off,
because
it has
to
prove one
thing
to
you
in
corpore
viti:[7]
the
forceful effect
Previous Page Next Page