He bumps his side while hanging curtains in his new apartment — and the pain does not go away. His family’s pretence enrages him; only the servant Gerasim, who holds his legs on his shoulders and says “We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble?”, comforts him.
Lines to Remember
1 quotationsWhat if my whole life has really been wrong?
Context & when to use it
The question that finally opens him to truth.
For mid-life crisis, examined life, regret.
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related by shared connectionsGodān
Premchand’s last and greatest novel (1936) — the life and death of Hori, a poor peasant who longs only to own a cow, crushed by debt, caste, landlords and priests — the epic of the Indian village under colonial rule.
Dasein
Heidegger’s term for the human being — “being-there” — the entity whose own being is an issue for it.
The World as Will and Representation
Schopenhauer’s single great work — the world is my representation; in itself it is Will; and the Will is the source of all suffering.
Mokṣa
Liberation — release from the cycle of rebirth and from all suffering, the highest goal of human life in the Hindu and Jain traditions (and, as nirvāṇa, in Buddhism). Every Indian school defines it differently, and the arguments over what it is, and how it is won, are the backbone of Indian philosophy.
Saṃsāra
“Wandering” — the beginningless cycle of birth, death and rebirth through which beings pass according to their karma, and from which every major Indian religion seeks release.
The Death of Socrates
In prison, on his last day, Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul, drinks the hemlock calmly, and asks that a cock be offered to Asclepius.