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the corner for Raskolnikov’s mangled round hat, which
With them it’s not humanity, which, having developed along its historical, living path to the end, will eventually turn into a normal society on its own, but rather the social system, which, emerging from some kind of mathematical head, will immediately organize all humanity and make it righteous and sinless, just like that, quicker than any living process, and without the need for any historical, living path! That’s why they have such an instinctive dislike of history:
There was something else I needed to find out then, something else was nudging me along: what I needed to find out, and find out quickly, was whether I was a louse, like everyone else, or a human being. Could I take that step or couldn’t I? Would I dare to stoop and grab or wouldn’t I? Was I a quivering creature or did I have the right … ?’
Was it really the hag I killed? It was myself I killed, not her! I murdered myself in one fell blow, for all time! … And the hag was killed by the devil, not me
‘Accept suffering and through suffering redeem yourself
– that is what you must do.’
What we’ve got here, sir, is a fantastical, dark deed, a modern deed, a deed of our time, when the heart of man has clouded over; when there’s talk of “renewal” through bloodshed;11 when people preach about anything and everything from a position of comfort.
Yield to life without thinking about it. And don’t worry – you’ll be brought safely to shore and set on your feet.
I know you lack belief, but life, by heaven, will bring you to shore.
she’ll want to “save” him and knock some sense into him, and resurrect him and exhort him towards more noble goals, and restore him to new life and activity – the usual fantasies.
