Marblehead Posted September 9, 2018 The invoker of the ancestors in his black square-cut robes approaches the pigpen and advises the porkers, saying, "Why are you afraid of dying? I will feed you with grain for three months, then I will practice austerities for ten days, fast for three days, spread white rushes on the ground, and place your shoulders and rumps on the carved sacrificial stand. You'll go along with that, won't you?" If he were planning for the porkers, he would say, "It would be better to feed you with chaff and dregs and leave you in your pigpen." Planning for himself, he would prefer to drag out his life with the carriage and cap due to his office and, when he dies, to be borne on an ornamented hearse among feathered wreaths. If he were planning for the porkers he would reject these, but planning for himself he would choose them. Why are his preferences so different from those of the porkers? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OldDog Posted September 12, 2018 Not much commentary on this. Seems to be about misplaced sense of quality in living. Clearly, the porkers ... now there's a word for you ... would prefer to be left to their own devices if they knew what the ultimante end was going to be. But it appears that the nature of official is to desire the trappings of his office when going to his end. Is that the nature of officialdom? DDJ44 comes to mind ... Fame or one's own self, which does one love more? One's own self or material goods, which has more worth? Loss (of self) or possession (of goods), which is the greater evil? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted September 12, 2018 I guess none of us wanted to assume the position of the pig. Yes, the pig would prefer to wallow in the mud. The priest has his own future planned out for the pig. I guess being an Anarchist is refusing to be a pig. (But I can still wallow in the mud if I care to do so.) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
