| Today, by the very fact that everything seems possible to
us, we have a feeling that the worst of all is possible: retrogression, barbarism, decadence. This of itself would not be a bad symptom; it would
mean we are once again forming contact with that insecurity which is essential to all
forms of life, that anxiety both dolorous and delicious contained in every moment, if we
know how to live it to its innermost core, right down to its palpitating vitals…I
have not spoken of the quality of actual existence, but of its quantitative advance, its
increase in potency. I believe I am thus giving an exact description of the conscience of
the man of today, his vital tone, which consists in his feeling himself possessed of
greater potentiality than ever before and in all previous
time seeming dwarfed by the contrast. |