"Do you or do you not, directly or indirectly, want to be killed or assaulted?"

"To come to terms, one must understand what fear means: what it implies and what it rejects. It implies and rejects the same fact: a world where murder is legitimate, and where human life is considered trifling. This is the great political question of our times, and before dealing with other issues, one must take a position on it. Before anything can be done, two questions must be put: 'Do you or do you not, directly or indirectly, want to be killed or assaulted? Do you or do you not, directly or indirectly, want to kill or assault?' All who say No to both these questions are automatically committed to a series of consequences which must modify their way of posing the problem." - Albert Camus, Neither Victim Nor Executioner

For something less deep, there is this cheerful thought:

Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter. - Albert Camus, The Outsider.

Comments

j said…
the only thought i have about my death is i want it quick!
vina said…
hmmm, i think the "how" part matters...a lot.
Richard said…
jairam: I want mine a long way off. There is a cynical view of life: "Life is a terminal, protracted disease contracted at birth."

vina: not from Camus' existentialist point of view - when you die, you die. what matters the rest?

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