Untimely Meditations 129only coundess individuals. Concepts of mankind do little to clarify any
individual existence. What, for example, is the meaning of the "equality"
of mankind? That everyone must die? No one ever experiences the
necessity of dying in general, but only one's own individual death. I will
never know how another person experiences his necessity of dying,
even if he is quite close to me. 1 cannot emerge from myself. I only expe-
rience things about the experience of others, but I do not experience the
experience of others myself "Fraternity" is yet another general concept
of "mankind." How far can I really expand this feeling, far enough to
comprehend the entire earth and all of mankind? No feeling can endure
that much expansion; the ego has simply evaporated into a figure of
speech. "Freedom" is another prominent general concept that took the
place of the idea of God. With biting irony, Stirner describes the
process-oriented thinkers who construct a societal and historical
machine that is expected to conclude its clattering business with the pro-
duction of "freedom" as though it were a commodity. Until such time,
however, we remain slaves of this machine of liberation in the capacity
of party workers. The will to freedom thus turns into willingness to
stand in the service of logic. The history of Marxism has abundandy
demonstrated what destructive consequences this belief in historical
logic can have. In his critique of the universalist constructions of liber-
ation, Stirner has surely prevailed against Marx.
Stirner's nominalism set out to "break up thoughts by thinking"
(Stirner 148). It is important not to misinterpret his aim in doing so. He
sought not an absence of thought but rather the freedom to think cre-
atively, which means that we do not accede to the power of our
thoughts, but remain their creator. Thinking is creativity, the thought is
a creation, and freedom of thought means that the creator stands above
his creation. Moreover, thinking constitutes power and thus rises above
what is thought. Active thinking must remain wary of falling captive to
thoughts. "As you are at each instant, you are your own creature, and in
this very 'creature' you do not wish to lose yourself, the creator. You are
yourself a higher being than you are, and surpass yourself" (Stirner 37).