The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

dre^which worried..aMJdJ^aBleteL,u^iii a night in CarmvaL Life and its fonns^naw pags,.. before him as a fleeting illusion,^^ a light morning ^ream before halfwakih^eyes, the real world already shining through it BO that it can no longer deceive ; and like this morning dream, they ^ally^ ^nish altogether without any violent transition. From this we can understand the meaning of Madame Guion when towards the end of her autobiogmphy she often expresses herself thus : “ Everything is alike to me : I cannot will anything more : often I know not whethei^ exist or not.” In order to exprft.sa how, after the extinction of i;h§. will, the death of ^ the body (which is indeed only the manifestation of . the will, and therefore loses all significance when the will is abolished) can no longer have any bitterness, bui.i?i,.y;ejy welcome^r may be allowed to q.uote,the.'V?ord5. ftf..th3l; holy penitent, although they are not very elegantly fumed: “Midi de la gloire; jour ou il n'y a plus de nuit ; vie qui ne eraint plus la mort, dans la mort meme : parceque la mort a vaincu la mort, et que celui qui a souffert la premiire mort, ne goutera plus la seconds mort ” (Vie de Mad. de Guion, vol. ii. p. 13).

We must not, however, suppose t^^ when, by means of the knowledge whkh acte^ 8^ denial’ of the will to live has once appeared, it never wavers or vacillates, and that we can rest upon it as on an ai^ured ~p6s8essioh7 "IS^ther.l^ must eYer"anewl)e atteined by a constant battle* since the body is the will itself only in the form of ^^ectivity or as^am^talio^h the world as idea, so Iqi^ m tEe^ody^_UveSj t^ ^hole

THE WORLD AS WILL.

BK. IV.

So6

will to live exists potentially, and constantly strives to become actual, and to burn again with all its ardour. llierefore~tha^ peace and blessedness in the life of holy men which we have described is only found as the flower which ^roceeSs from Uie constont victory over the wHipind the ground .in_ . wbick iLfilQm Js ite. conjtan| battle wkh the wdl to live, for no one can have lasting £eace upon eartl^ We therefore see the histories of .the inner TIfe oT saints full of spiritual conflicts, temptations. and absence oT” grace, i.e., the kind of knowledge which maTces ^ motives ineffectual, and as an universal quieter silences" aH volition. gives the deepest peace and opens the door of freedom.

Therefore also we see those who have once attained to the denial of tlie.will to live strive with all their might to keep upon tins path, by enforced renunciation of ever^ kind, by penance and severity of life, and by selecting whatever is disagreeable to tiiePt ^~in~^or(ler "to suppress the will, which is constant^ springing up anew.^ Hen^, flnally, ’Realise they alrea^ know the value of salvation, their anxious carefulness to retain the hard-won blessing, their scruples of conscience about every innocent pleasure, or about every little excitement of their vanity, which here .abo (Uee. iast,„the..mpsi) immovable, the most active, and the, most foolish of all the inclinations of maEU .

By the term asceticism, which I have used so often, I mean in its narrower sense this iirHefkiwnal breaking of the will by the, refusal- of . what, is agreeable and the selection of what is disagreeably jt^e voluntarily chosen~Iife of penance and self- chastisement for^thy cbhtmual' mortTfication of the will.

We see this practised by him who has attained to the denial of the will in order to enable him to persist in it ; but suffering in general, as it is inflicted by fate, is a second way xXoi/9’^) of attaining to tharden^iaT

Indeed, we may assume that most men only attain to it in thisjw^ land that it Is ^e suffering_ which is person-

^ On tevrepos irXovf c£. Stob. FloriL, voL ii. p. 374.

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