“There are two fundamental ways in which man can exist. His existence can be authentic or inauthentic. An inauthentic existence is one which the self is lost and scattered in its immediate concerns with the world and in which its possibilities are decided for it by the collective depersonalized mass of mankind – “das Man”, (the masses). The individual’s responsibility is taken away from him, he is deprived of his potentiality for Being, he is alienated from his genuine self. Resolutely accepting his “thrownwess”, (thrown into a situation) man takes upon himself responsibility for his existence, is liberated from the tyranny of things and of “das Man”, and projects himself upon his genuine possibilities.” – John Macquarrie on Bultmann’s philosophy and theology in thought.
“Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there.” – Henry Miller
