CHAPTER 19. THE FUTURE HERO.

January 19, 1969.

"What, what should he be like?" addressed his own being with a question full of inspiration regarding the future hero of his new story, Jiří Bureš, a philosophy student at Charles University in Prague. "Perhaps… strong and courageous? If so, then, of course, such a hero is capable of awakening sympathy in nature to the same degree that he is capable of arousing hatred… So, if I were to write about a strong and courageous man during a war… of whatever kind… then I… perhaps… might achieve a considerable measure of success!… But… but if I were to scribble lines about a strong and courageous man during peacetime or, what is most ruinous, during a revolution, then I will only… undoubtedly!… lose my freedom… and, what is most likely… my life altogether! What truly prudent and sound-minded government wishes… in peacetime… to see strong and courageous people within its confines and spaces? No, they are necessary only during a war! It is then that they are heroes! During peacetime, however, these people are no more and no less than the embodiment of threat and danger… To whom? A truly apt question!… So what, what should he be, or rather what qualities should he possess?… But must he? Is there a right of choice in this sentence with the word 'must'? Will he be kind? Perhaps responsive? Is he perhaps predestined to be loving? No! He can only be such in certain circumstances and under certain conditions—his nature is always unchanging… the facets of this nature are by no means kindness, by no means love, and by no means responsiveness! Like marble, given the appropriate conditions, and with the influence of certain factors and certain matter, he is capable of being an exceptional statue or a mundane column—neither lines nor form define his nature, but that very combination of atoms of which he is composed: in this is truth and in this is veracity! Divide a column in two—does it cease to be marble because of this? Cut off an arm from a sculpture—does it lose the properties of marble because of this? So it is with man—possessing one form or another, possessing one knowledge or another, as well as one feeling or another, he invariably remains only… an exceptionally conjoined combination of atoms: this is how the concept of 'man' must be interpreted… as an integral component of nature!… And nature… nature is perishable… and man is perishable! Stars are perishable, and planets are perishable… everything is subject to decay… and one should not seek in this natural process what is not in it and never will be! Death is but a cry: the cry of an infant when he is first able to behold the confines of this world—without a death preceding that birth, never, verily, never would that newborn have been able to open his eyes… And therefore… and therefore, if my hero is to be kind… he will be so only situationally and… and, what is important, intuitively!… He will always be given over to human nature… and therefore mysterious and incomprehensible to any mundane eye that will invariably suppose that it knows perfectly well the motives and nature of my hero!… What should he be?… My mind continuously produces thoughts… with a similar continuity that very worm which rebelliously came out of the white marble leg of Saint Roch revealed its existence to this terrestrial sphere!… those very thoughts that yearn to find their life in a completely new, as yet unexplored by him, form—on the snow-white matter of delicate parchment!… What will he be like? Perhaps he will be a possessor of biblical humility and a similar kind of patience? Perhaps… bravely and boldly overcoming difficulties and obstacles of all kinds? No! Such a hero is certainly not for the present, not for our time! Now, representatives of the human race already endure a great deal… and therefore a story about an enduring hero, and consequently about endurance, will, without a doubt, have… if not an explosive, then, certainly… an incendiary effect—in cases of this kind… two minuses form a plus! A man who creates an enduring hero for enduring people… can become the creator of a revolution, and consequently the creator of destruction, the creator of death! And therefore… if my hero is to be relegated to the chain of… the enduring, then… I… or, if you will, he… intentionally… or, if you will, inadvertently… will be able to reveal to the true, living, continuously breathing endurers… undoubtedly, if they can comprehend it, the true nature and reasons for this endurance—this action… just a few insane or extraordinarily prudent lines… will prove to be… will be able to prove to be not only a very unique call for them to turn their gaze toward the truth, toward a genuine awareness and understanding of reality, but also, consequently… what is important… to my annihilation! Do I wish for death today? Absolutely not!… It is quite likely that my future hero should be extraordinarily prudent? No… for excessive prudence will completely destroy his feelings—a truly prudent man is never extraordinarily sensitive! In the event… that he is extraordinarily sensitive… then foolishness is predestined for him as well… for this is what the laws of the Universe, to which… if one does not conform… it is impossible to be a true human being, demand. The laws of the Universe—the natural laws of the cosmos! And one… the most key… among those mentioned… is the law of equilibrium!… So what, what should he be? Charming? Plain? Calm? Silent? No… certainly not calm, but balanced… certainly not silent, but speechless! If he is calm and silent… he will arouse considerable suspicion, and consequently apprehension, in the being of every reader, by his actions or by his inaction, for mysteriousness, of which taciturnity and calmness are but some of the signs… as well as, what is most important, uncertainty!… always awakens in human souls not only a sacred awe and fear, but also in the human mind no less a sacred doubt and skepticism, which, in turn, are a very colossal basis for justified suspicion… Being silent—he will be dangerous in the eyes of society; being speechless, however—he will be wise in the eyes of society… But truly dangerous for whom? For society? No! He will be dangerous in relation to authority, for authority will not know… anything about him! When a person's tongue is shackled by ruthless chains, he… as if he does not exist at all… he… as if he never existed at all! And consequently… how can one oppose someone who… as if he does not exist and never existed? He is indistinguishable, he is unseen, he is ethereal! He is a spirit! Authority, however, is nakedness, it is publicity, it is ponderousness! What should one expect from a spirit, from a seemingly incorporeal sylph? No one knows! He can, in the eyes of authority, do everything—in reality, he needs nothing! To authority, this spirit is dangerous, extraordinarily dangerous—but how can one take the life of that which is nothing and, at the very same time, everything? Perhaps, by taking his life, authority, or rather the rulers, will destroy themselves—perhaps, by not taking his life, authority, or rather the rulers, will destroy themselves!… And therefore… the less authority knows about a person, the more dangerous he is to it!… But enough of this! Perhaps… his soul will be like that well-known cave in which the corpse of that very dragon was buried, the perishable remains of which, in turn, were cast into oblivion in the bosom of the said cave by Saint George? The aforementioned dragon will be his personality, his individuality, and Saint George—the insistent opinion of society? Who will he be? Perhaps… capable of great deeds… inclined toward freedom and independence, like Lucifer? Or perhaps a naive, dependent and obedient slave, a wretched sheep, whose lot… is only promises—promises from the shepherd of an extraordinarily green and exceedingly moist grass… but not now, but in the near or distant future… in a future where living consciousness, living thought, and living feeling will be lost! But will he need that green and moist grass where there is no thirst, where there is no desire and feeling—where there is nothing but non-being? Would it not be better for him to burn out, to sparkle, like an ephemeris, leaving behind… if not a great trail, then, certainly, a great light for a true genius—that very great light which is called inspiration? Let it be so… But… Perhaps, perhaps he should be clothed in the garb of talkativeness? Then, it must be admitted, the story will be short—the future hero will destroy himself with his own words in the first paragraph! Of course, my pen is capable of creating other paragraphs as well… but will they be necessary then, when the cornerstone idea of the story is revealed in its very first lines?… Perhaps, perhaps… he should be cunning? Then his main aspiration will by no means be truth, but wealth! But… but is wealth not truth? It is what grants freedom… but not freedom of thought! It is for this very reason that it is not truth! Perhaps the said hero should be young? Then he will be cheerful and amusing… yes, precisely cheerful and amusing!… and not ridiculous! Perhaps he should be old? Then he should be sad and melancholic… yes, precisely sad and melancholic!… and not prudent and wise! What use is that prudence and wisdom to him? What use is it to one who is condemned to a swift demise… who is condemned to the realization of a swift demise?… Perhaps… perhaps… No! My hero… What, what will he be? I do not know… but one thing I know for sure: he will never be astonished at the sight of exceptional phenomena of this terrestrial sphere—he himself will become such! Yes, he will precisely become, not be, for 'to be' is much easier than 'to become'! The first word is lifeless and aimless! The second word, however, is tirelessly breathing, unceasingly ablaze: it is the embodiment of purposefulness!"