22nd May

That the life of Man is but a dream has been sensed by many a one, and I too am never free of the feeling.  When i consider the restrictions that are placed on the active, inquiring energies of Man, when i see that all our efforts have no other result than to satisfy needs which in turn serve no purpose but to prolong our wretched existence, and then see that all our reassurance concerning the particular questions we probe is no more than a dreamy resignation, since all we are doing is to paint our prison walls with colourful figures and bright views--all of this...leaves me silent.  I withdraw into myself, and discover a world, albeit a notional world of dark desire rather than one of actuality and vital strength.  And everything swims before my senses, and I go my way in the world wearing the smile of the dreamer.


All our learned teachers and educators are agreed that children do not know why they want what they want; but no-one is willing to believe that adults too, like children, wander about this earth in a daze and, like children, do not know where they come from or where they are going, act as rarely as they do according to genuine motives, and are as thoroughly governed as they are by biscuits and cake and the rod.  And yet it seems palpably clear to me.


I gladly confess, since i know the reply you want to make, that they are the happiest who, like children, live for the present moment, drag their dolls around and dress and undress them, and watchfully steal by the drawer where Mama has locked away the cake, and, when at last they get their hands on what they want, devour it with their cheeks crammed full and cry, 'More!' -- They are happy creatures.  And those others, who give pompous titles to their beggarly pursuits and even to their passions, and chalk them up as vast enterprises for the good and well-being of mankind, they are too happy. --It is all very well for those who can be like that!  But he who humbly perceives where it is all leading, who sees how prettily the happy man makes an Eden of his garden, and how even the unhappy man goes willingly on his weary way, panting beneath his burden, and that all are equally interested in seeing the light of the sun for one minute more -- he indeed will be silent, and will create a world from within himself, and be happy because he is a man.  And then, confined as he may be, he nonetheless still preserves in his heart the sweet sensation of freedom, and the knowledge that he can quit this prison whenever he wishes.


...from 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe