"L'ultime liberté" : extrait du roman "Le Baron de Torlune" скачать в хорошем качестве

"L'ultime liberté" : extrait du roman "Le Baron de Torlune"

« Since we have been dining and chatting (the Baron to his guest), I am surprised that you still have not asked me a question… -What question ? -You do wish to become independent, freed from men's sway, don't you ? -Indeed, hence my staying with you. -Why is it so ? -Well, because YOU have freed yourself from men's sway ! -Really ? What makes you think so ? -You fend for yourself in nature and with nature, so you do not need others ; is that not crystal clear ? -No ! That is rather as muddy as some marsh is ! -What are you getting at, Anastase ? I am listening to you ! -No need to live in and with nature and be self-sufficient to free oneself from men's sway. Sooner or later, mortal diseases strike you and if you do not die instantly, they torture you for days and weeks and months and years… I know, but this is how the ball bounces, right !? But we can cope with that, believe me ! Let me get to my point : there are mortal diseases but there are also accidents that can leave you at someone's entire disposal. I am 66… 66, really ? I thought you were far younger ! Your living in keeping with nature is the key, right !? No doubt, but, please, do follow my reasoning. I am 66, which means that old age and death are looming ahead ! I have but a few years left to enjoy my autonomy. Do you really think I shall end my life in an old people's home or some hospital ? Anastase, I do not know what to answer… You do know that my sense of honour would discard such self-degradation… To linger in a vegetative state and have my butt washed by someone… is that not altogether degrading !? More than a rape ? No sense of human dignity left when you come to that… -I do know, but can this be avoided ? One can die in time. - Do you mean… suicide ? Sorry to be blunt about it, Christophe, but you are still so much of a city-dweller polluted by prejudice ! Of course, I mean suicide. Any mortal should consider it. Nature cares about species but not about individuals. Thus, it does not care about the way we die ; hence, we must see to it ourselves. Would you really like to end up as some kind of vegetable in someone's hands and endure excruciating sufferings ? Definitely not indeed… Then, you must think about suicide. You must think about how to die when your life has become intolerable. - I must admit you are right, no matter how much it saddens me… one cannot be free without thinking about our own death. Right. -That being said, your solution does not quite please me ; there remain quite a few clouds in my mind… How can one be sure, dear Anastase, that we shall be courageous enough to commit suicide when we wish to ? Besides, as death is painful, aren't we bound to die defeated by suffering and anguish ? How horrible… -No, Christophe, if we want to die, we need the right means, for dying requires no form of courage, but only a strong determination… the right means is a painless means. -Die painlessly ? How is that possible ? -It is indeed, thanks to medical progress.Just as I was thrown by some into this absurd ocean called life, I demand that those who did so help me get out of it ! -You have a point ! Did you… find those drugs ? -I did. (...) I will die painlessly and sink into eternal sleep : no more agony whatsoever. -That indeed is undebatable, but… what if your beverage becomes adulterated if you live longer than you think !? -It might indeed, but I have plenty of others in some hiding place of mine… just in case… -How resourceful of you ! I am really glad I met you ; you have dispelled quite a few doubts and fears within me. -I, too, am glad, dear brother, and this pays tribute to your will to understand, for I could never have made my point, had you not wanted to listen to me and grasp my reasoning. -I do know quite a few people who would have considered you to be nuts or depressed or raving mad !… -Indeed !! But let us deal with that when they experience agony : they shall not be proud and show off, believe me ! They will regret not having secured their own beverage… but it will be too late… -Sure ! -The Stoics used to say that fearing death marred our lives and enslaved us. But thanks to that beverage, I do not fear death, I feel free, totally independent, freed from others' sway and totally happy… and I shall die in cold blood, rather than defeated by suffering and anguish, as you thought, I shall die a free man, both joyful and serene. -That is amazing ; I think you went further than all philosophers in their pondering over death, and you have solved the matter… -Solved in its physical dimension. But the metaphysical anguish pertaining to what awaits us as we die remains unsolved. -Are you religious ? -You're barking up the wrong tree !! Certainly not !! I leave those religious drugs to the weak. As for emptiness, our ultimate destination, it does not scare me. »