364 becoming more human by becoming more godlikeTh ey understand the decisive importance of drawing in the right place
the line between the immutable circumstances of human life and the
a l t e r a b l e o r g a n i z a t i o n o f s o c i e t y.
If, however, the whole point of their overthrow of themselves is to
possess life, they will not resign themselves to the vision of a good that
they can never possess because it is relegated to a future that remains
always beyond their reach. “Th ou shall be king hereaft er,” Macbeth is
told. He fails to understand the meaning of the words: that he shall
never be king in the present that he can possess. Hereaft er is never. To
live for the future in such a way that our desired ascent begins right
now, cleansing from the exercise of our power of transcendence the
stain of estrangement from life in the present, becomes a defi ning con-
cern for the religion of the future.
Th ere is one last benefi t that we gain from an unconditional recogni-
tion of the irreparable fl aws in human life. As we awake to life, shaken
by the awareness of the truth about our condition, we would be over-
whelmed by exultation at being alive. Th e phi los o phers have told us
that we can no more look death in the face than keep looking straight
at the sun. It is life, however, more than death that we cannot regard
directly: that we should have been born, and possess life and individu-
ality, is the sole incommensurable joy. If we were unable to counterbal-
ance this joy, it would paralyze us.
Th ere are two ways in which we can contain it. One way deprives us
of the highest good; the other helps us possess it. One way is premised
on forgetting or denying our mortality, groundlessness, and insatiabil-
ity; the other depends on recognizing them for what they are.
Th e fi rst way is to settle for the diminished existence and awareness—
the dissipation and diversion— in which we ordinarily spend our time
and dilapidate the good of greatest value. We then protect ourselves
against the exultation of being alive by experiencing a lesser life. Th e cru-
cial condition of this approach is denial of the truth about the human
condition.
Th e second way is to affi rm this truth, so unreservedly and con-
stantly, that it can darken the vision of life. We may then hope to live
and to see in the space marked out by this great light and its accompa-
nying shadow.