Werner's
reading of the pivotal Max Weber
quote
which appears above as the
source quote
for this essay, comes at you point blank like
Life itself
(as
Jose Ortega y
Gasset
may have said): it just can't be ignored or avoided. The brassy
alacrity with which
Werner
reads it, defies you and I to not get it.
What's not transcribed above in the original
quote,
are
Werner's
asides ie those additional pertinent commentaries he
adds as he reads, which make this
quote,
already combustible, catch fire and blaze.
For example, what exactly is Max referring to when he talks of "...
windbags who do not fully realize what they take upon
themselves"? What is it exactly for them to "take
(something) upon themselves"?
Werner
suggests they take something upon themselves when they
speak
and when they
listen
and when they think and when they
act
and (literally)
when they
are
(his "are" implies
deliberately
be).
Max continues by saying "... who intoxicate themselves with
romantic sensations". What exactly are these "romantic
sensations" he refers to?
Werner
suggests "I
believe
..." may be a romantic sensation, "My experience has
proved ..." may be a romantic sensation, "Everybody
knows ..." may be a romantic sensation, "All the best
people know ..." may be a romantic sensation, "I read
..." may be a romantic sensation. Notice by saying
"may be" rather than "is" in these examples,
Werner
leaves his suggestion open to scrutiny, examination, and inquiry,
rather than ruining it entirely by boxing it up as "the
truth".
Max later talks of "when a mature man ... is aware of a
responsibility for the consequences of his conduct". What
exactly is this "conduct" he refers to?
Werner
tersely suggests
speaking
is conduct ie what a mature man
speaks,
literally, is how he conducts himself.
Brilliant!
You are
your
word
- ergo your conduct is your
speaking.
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