Quote by Friedrich Von Schlegel

The innermost meaning of sacrifice is the annihilation of the finite just because it is finite. In order to demonstrate that this is the only purpose, the most noble and beautiful must be chosen; above all, man, the fulfillment of the earth. Human sacrifices are the most natural sacrifices. Man, however, is more than the fulfillment of the earth; he is reasonable, and reason is free and nothing but an eternal self-determination toward the infinite. Thus man can sacrifice only himself, and that is what he does in the omnipresent sanctissimum of which the masses are not aware. All artists are self-sacrificing human beings, and to become an artist is nothing but to devote oneself to the subterranean gods. The meaning of divine creation is primarily revealed in the enthusiasm of annihilation. Only in the throes of death is the spark of eternal life ignited.

The innermost meaning of sacrifice is the annihilation of th

Summary

This quote highlights the concept of sacrifice in terms of its innermost meaning and purpose. It suggests that sacrifice entails a deliberate annihilation or giving up of something finite, demonstrating that its primary aim is to exalt the most noble and beautiful aspects. Human sacrifices are seen as the most natural sacrifices because humans are considered the fulfillment of the earth. However, it emphasizes that man is not just an earthly being but also possesses reason and the capacity for infinite self-determination. Therefore, true sacrifice for man can only be the sacrifice of oneself, which is done in the profound sanctity that is omnipresent but often overlooked by the masses. The quote further asserts that all artists are self-sacrificing individuals, as becoming an artist signifies dedicating oneself to hidden, underworld deities. Ultimately, this profound act of sacrifice serves to ignite the spark of eternal life within the individual.

Topics

By Friedrich Von Schlegel

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

Plant a kernel of wheat and you reap a pint; plant a pint an

Plant a kernel of wheat and you reap a pint; plant a pint and you reap a bushel. Always the law works to give you back more than you give.

Anthony Norvell

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is o

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

Abraham Lincoln

If you're into architecture and you're from the West, everyt

If you're into architecture and you're from the West, everything is hors d'oeuvres for working to rebuild the Temple. Ultimately you're led there. You can't escape it.

Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon

Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon

Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stran

a quite novel kind of grammar and logic, according to which

a quite novel kind of grammar and logic, according to which what is something is nothing

Martin Luther King Jr.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my wor

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.

By going over your day in imagination before you begin it, y

By going over your day in imagination before you begin it, you can begin acting successfully at any moment.

When something can be read without effort, great effort has

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.

Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Authors & Writing

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA.

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature

Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values.

Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a p

Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a people is precisely the willingness to stay the course when things are boring, to run the risk of repeating an old argument just one more time, or of going one more round with a hostile or (much worse) indifferent audience. I first became involved with the Czech opposition in 1968 when it was an intoxicating and celebrated cause. Then, during the depressing 1970s and 1980s I was a member of a routine committee that tried with limited success to help the reduced forces of Czech dissent to stay nourished (and published). The most pregnant moment of that commitment was one that I managed to miss at the time: I passed an afternoon with Zdenek Mlynar, exiled former secretary of the Czech Communist Party, who in the bleak early 1950s in Moscow had formed a friendship with a young Russian militant with an evident sense of irony named Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev. In 1988 I was arrested in Prague for attending a meeting of one of Vaclav Havel's 'Charter 77' committees. That outwardly exciting experience was interesting precisely because of its almost Zen-like tedium. I had gone to Prague determined to be the first visiting writer not to make use of the name Franz Kafka, but the numbing bureaucracy got the better of me. When I asked why I was being detained, I was told that I had no need to know the reason! Totalitarianism is itself a clichÃ© (as well as a of pulverizing boredom) and it forced the clichÃ© upon me in turn. I did have to mention Kafka in my eventual story. The regime fell not very much later, as I had slightly foreseen in that same piece that it would. (I had happened to notice that the young Czechs arrested with us were not at all frightened by the police, as their older mentors had been and still were, and also that the police themselves were almost fatigued by their job. This was totalitarianism practically yawning itself to death.) A couple of years after that I was overcome to be invited to an official reception in Prague, to thank those who

Christopher Hitchens

Communism Bureaucracy Boredom Commitment 1950s 1970s 1980s Allegiance Arguments Arrest Bad Crowds Charm Charter 77 Cliches