From an essay by Albert Camus, French writer-philosopher, existentialist. I had to translate it from Russian, because I could not find it in English. In the process I abridged it to make it more pallatable. Hopefully this would settle our debate about what it means to be a DJ.
"How simple everything would be, if all that was needed was to love! The more you love, the deeper you get entrenched in an existentialist’s mindset. People usually talk about love sugarcoating it with illusions of eternity. Don Juan sees love differently. He understands that love is limited by death. So he says to himself: “either embrace its impermanence or forget about such an impermanent thing as love”. Giving and dignified is the love that recognizes both its uniqueness and impermanence. All these deaths and rebirths comprise the bouquet of Don Juan’s life which is his present to life. Judge for yourself if he can be considered an Egoist. Is it really necessary to love RARELY in order to love STRONGLY? Don Juan leaves a woman NOT because he no longer wants her, but because he wants another one – which is not the same.
People can be sad for two reasons: ignorance or hopes that can’t be fulfilled. Don Juan knows all and hopes for nothing. He reminds us of those artists, who, knowing the limits of their talent, never step out of them; but work with fascinating effortlessness in what is theirs. Genius – is intelligence that knows its limitations, including the limitations set by physical death. Don Juan knows not sorrow! And at the moment when he sees the end approaching, you can hear his laughter, for which all is forgiven him.
For DJ “vanity and chasing after the wind” is hope for future life. That is evident from the game that he is playing against Heaven. He repents not for spending himself on pleasure.
How much indignation (or strained laughter expressing sudden shame for the object of wonder) is aroused by the speech of Don Juan, when with the same exact phrase he tempts ALL women. But he who seeks quantity of pleasure, considers only effectiveness! What’s the use of sidetracking from a well tested “password”?
The woman is not looking for expressivity in the content of pickup lines and “right things to say”. What matters is the voice that says them. He talks through them, to pass the tests, push the right buttons, honor formalities, after which, what is left to do, is the most essential – making love.
Who is Don Juan? A cheap temptor, womanizer, with the only difference, that for him it is a conscious choice to be one, which makes him an existentialist hero. He adheres to the Ethic of Quantity, as opposed to the Saint, who is after quality. An existentialist tends to be doubtful of the deep meaning of things. He runs through them, gathers a harvest of hot and wonderful images, and than burns it all.
…It’d difficult to find a scarier image: a man, who was betrayed by his own body; who having not died in time, waiting for death is left alone at the end of the play. For a conscious person, old age and everything that comes with it is not something unexpected. (A man is conscious to the degree to which he does not conceal from himself his fear). There was a Temple of Old Age in Athens; children were brought there for excursions. Don Juan knows he must part with the image of himself attributed him by romantics. Who would laugh at a suffering old man? But no, Don Juan foresaw a universe in which there is a place for being laughed at. He is willing to pay the price, such are the rules of the game to him. He knows that he is right just as surely as he knows that he can’t escape punishment. Don Juan’s generosity lies in that he accepts all the rules of the game. He holds death inevitable in contempt.
In Italian museums you can find small painted folding screens. A priest used to hold one in front of a man sentenced to be executed to hide the scaffold from him.
A leap of faith in all its forms, be it escape into divine or eternal, the losing oneself in daily life, or in a struggle for an “idea” – is a folding screen hiding the absurd. But a virgin too can live without it. Don Juan is merely the most pronounced example of an existentialist hero."
What is an existentialist hero? Further reading: http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/sisyphus.htm
"How simple everything would be, if all that was needed was to love! The more you love, the deeper you get entrenched in an existentialist’s mindset. People usually talk about love sugarcoating it with illusions of eternity. Don Juan sees love differently. He understands that love is limited by death. So he says to himself: “either embrace its impermanence or forget about such an impermanent thing as love”. Giving and dignified is the love that recognizes both its uniqueness and impermanence. All these deaths and rebirths comprise the bouquet of Don Juan’s life which is his present to life. Judge for yourself if he can be considered an Egoist. Is it really necessary to love RARELY in order to love STRONGLY? Don Juan leaves a woman NOT because he no longer wants her, but because he wants another one – which is not the same.
People can be sad for two reasons: ignorance or hopes that can’t be fulfilled. Don Juan knows all and hopes for nothing. He reminds us of those artists, who, knowing the limits of their talent, never step out of them; but work with fascinating effortlessness in what is theirs. Genius – is intelligence that knows its limitations, including the limitations set by physical death. Don Juan knows not sorrow! And at the moment when he sees the end approaching, you can hear his laughter, for which all is forgiven him.
For DJ “vanity and chasing after the wind” is hope for future life. That is evident from the game that he is playing against Heaven. He repents not for spending himself on pleasure.
How much indignation (or strained laughter expressing sudden shame for the object of wonder) is aroused by the speech of Don Juan, when with the same exact phrase he tempts ALL women. But he who seeks quantity of pleasure, considers only effectiveness! What’s the use of sidetracking from a well tested “password”?
The woman is not looking for expressivity in the content of pickup lines and “right things to say”. What matters is the voice that says them. He talks through them, to pass the tests, push the right buttons, honor formalities, after which, what is left to do, is the most essential – making love.
Who is Don Juan? A cheap temptor, womanizer, with the only difference, that for him it is a conscious choice to be one, which makes him an existentialist hero. He adheres to the Ethic of Quantity, as opposed to the Saint, who is after quality. An existentialist tends to be doubtful of the deep meaning of things. He runs through them, gathers a harvest of hot and wonderful images, and than burns it all.
…It’d difficult to find a scarier image: a man, who was betrayed by his own body; who having not died in time, waiting for death is left alone at the end of the play. For a conscious person, old age and everything that comes with it is not something unexpected. (A man is conscious to the degree to which he does not conceal from himself his fear). There was a Temple of Old Age in Athens; children were brought there for excursions. Don Juan knows he must part with the image of himself attributed him by romantics. Who would laugh at a suffering old man? But no, Don Juan foresaw a universe in which there is a place for being laughed at. He is willing to pay the price, such are the rules of the game to him. He knows that he is right just as surely as he knows that he can’t escape punishment. Don Juan’s generosity lies in that he accepts all the rules of the game. He holds death inevitable in contempt.
In Italian museums you can find small painted folding screens. A priest used to hold one in front of a man sentenced to be executed to hide the scaffold from him.
A leap of faith in all its forms, be it escape into divine or eternal, the losing oneself in daily life, or in a struggle for an “idea” – is a folding screen hiding the absurd. But a virgin too can live without it. Don Juan is merely the most pronounced example of an existentialist hero."
What is an existentialist hero? Further reading: http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/sisyphus.htm
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