Life’s destructive elements are positive fulfillments within the whole
Evidence
According to the common view, life always shows two parties in opposition. One of them represents the positive aspect of life, its content proper, if not its substance, while the very meaning of the other is non-being, which must be subtracted from the positive elements before they can constitute life. This is the common view of the relation between happiness and suffering, virtue and vice, strength and inadequacy, success and failure—between all possible contents and interruptions of the course of life. The highest conception indicated in respect to these contrasting pairs appears to me different: we must conceive of all these polar differentiations as of one life; we must sense the pulse of a central vitality even in that which, if seen from the standpoint of a particular ideal, ought not to be at all and is merely something negative; we must allow the total meaning of our existence to grow out of both parties. In the most comprehensive context of life, even that which as a single element is disturbing and destructive, is wholly positive; it is not a gap but the fulfillment of a role reserved for it alone. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 983
Categorization
- XREF: This positive-valuation-of-negatives view parallels the negation-as-presence argument in the reader’s silence work — silence framed as positive presence rather than mere absence. — connects to: Life’s essence unifies will-to-life and will-to-power. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 824; The concept of life frames the fundamental decisions of modern existence — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 845; Life finds only illusory goals and ultimate disappointment when confined to itself — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 845 (+3 more)
Related
- Life’s essence unifies will-to-life and will-to-power. (similarity 0.80)
- The concept of life frames the fundamental decisions of modern existence (similarity 0.79)