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January 16, 2008
our task is endless
You are in the process of learning by means of philosophical inquiry how men should be, though you have not yet entered into any intimate, close, and indissoluble relationship with men. You will enter such relationships, and you will find that men are quite different from what is prescribed by your ethical theory. The nobler and better you are, the more painful this future experience is going to be. Do not allow yourself to be overcome by this pain; instead, overcome it through deeds. This pain has a purpose. It is part of the plan for improving the human race. It is womanish to stand there and complain about human corruption without lifting a finger to diminish it. It is unkind to censure men and to mock them bitterly without telling them how they can improve. Act! Act! That is what we are here for. Should we complain that others are not as perfect as we are, as long as we ourselves are only more perfect than they are? Isn’t our greater perfection precisely this calling we have received to work for the improvement of others. Let us rejoice over the prospect of the immense field that is ours to cultivate! Let us rejoice because we feel our own strength and because our task in endless!
Fichte - Lectures Concerning the Scholar's Vocation
Posted by amin at January 16, 2008 12:32 AM