A quotation from Herman Hesse

Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self (rudimentary as his may be). And so at the cost of intensity, he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he does comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire. The bourgeois is consequently by nature a creature of weak impulses; anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule. Therefore, he has substituted majority for power, law for force, and the polling booth for responsibility.
 
[Der Bürger nun schätzt nichts höher als das Ich (ein nur rudimentär entwickeltes Ich allerdings). Auf Kosten der Intensität also erreicht er Erhaltung und Sicherheit, statt Gottbesessenheit erntet er Gewissensruhe, statt Lust Behagen, statt Freiheit Bequemlichkeit, statt tödlicher Glut eine angenehme Temperatur. Der Bürger ist deshalb seinem Wesen nach ein Geschöpf von schwachem Lebensantrieb, ängstlich, jede Preisgabe seiner selbst fürchtend, leicht zu regieren. Er hat darum an Stelle der Macht die Majorität gesetzt, an Stelle der Gewalt das Gesetz, an Stelle der Verantwortung das Abstimmungsverfahren.]

Herman Hesse (1877-1962) German-born Swiss poet, novelist, painter
Steppenwolf, “Treatise of the Steppenwolf,” ch. 2 (1927) [tr Breighton (1929)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hesse-herman/82858/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hermanhesse #steppenwolf #bourgeois #calm #comfort #convenience #democracy #force #law #liberty #majorityrule #peaceandquiet #power #responsibility #security #selfpreservation #tyrannyofthemajority

Magic Carpet Ride 🎶
#Steppenwolf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGkGNCUQtWY

"The cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is strangling the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost"
#Steppenwolf - from Monster/Suicide/America on their 1969 album "#Monster".
Even more relevant today, but a reminder that 57 years ago the US were #warmongering.

Born To Be Wild 🤴🏻❤️‍🔥⚜️🦅😈⃤
#Steppenwolf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Z4cjUlIo4