Many observations that were considered ludicrous in 1967 have now become commonplace. For it is obvious today that "surviving" has so far prevented us from "living"; that man's insistence on making himself useful in his work is actually of little use to him in his own life, and even kills him. It is clear, too, that life usually ends precisely because it has never begun (which most people realize only in their last moments); and that the price of representation is paid for in terms of world-weariness and self-contempt. These ideas are already so deeply entrenched that, in the absence of any real lived experience to dispel them, they still nourish not only nostalgic theorizing but even the most fashionably glib talk. This vicious cycle continues out of an old inertia: the need to work in order to survive compensates for the life lost in wage labor (an even costlier form of survival). The effect on consciousness is fatal, with two sets of prejudices contributing to the mortification: in the first, survival takes precedence over living; and in the second, the exercise of the intellect – through critical analysis of society, of political issues, of cultural decay, of the future of humanity – takes the place of existence, while the body is left to express its discontent through sickness and malaise. And one need not get very close to these ideas to detect a whiff of the cassock. 3 The economy is everywhere that life is not: but however intertwined the two may become, they simply do not meld, and one can never be confused with the other. Most people do not really live: their overly precise calculations about money, work, exchange, guilt and power govern their lives so thoroughly and irremediably that the only thing to escape this bloodlessly cold calculus is the warm pathos of sweat and tears – which is all that is left to take on the aspects of human reality.
surviving" has so far prevented us from "living" man's insistence on making himself useful in his work is actually of little use to him in his own life, and even kills him life usually ends precisely because it has never begun the need to work in order to survive compensates for the life lost in wage labor (an even costlier form of survival The effect on consciousness is fata contributing to the mortification survival takes precedence over living; and the exercise of the intellect – through critical analysis of society, of political issues, of cultural decay, of the future of humanity – takes the place of existence, while the body is left to express its discontent through sickness and malaise The economy is everywhere that life is not: but however intertwined the two may become, they simply do not meld, and one can never be confused with the other. Most people do not really live: their overly precise calculations about money, work, exchange, guilt and power govern their lives so thoroughly and irremediably that the only thing to escape this bloodlessly cold calculus is the warm pathos of sweat and tears – which is all that is left to take on the aspects of human reality