This ability of the body is a source of never-ending…
““This ability of the body is a source of never-ending wonder to me. It fights against lies with a tenacity and a shrewdness that are properly astounding. Moral and religious claims cannot deceive or confuse it. A little child is force-fed morality. He accepts this nourishment willingly because he loves his parents, and suffers countless illnesses in his school years. As an adult he makes use of his superb intellect to fight against conventional morality, possibly becoming a philosopher or a writer in the process. But his true feelings about his family, which were masked by illness during his school days, have a stunting effect on him, as was the case with Nietzsche and Schiller. Finally, he becomes victim of his parents, sacrificing himself to their ideas of morality and religion, even though as an adult he saw so clearly through the lies of "society." Seeing through his own self-deception, realizing that he had let himself be made the sacrifice of morality, was more difficult for him than penning philosophical tracts or writing courageous dramas. But it is only the internal processes taking place in the individual, not the thoughts divorced from our own bodies, that can bring about productive change in our mentality.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
The body resists imposed morality; true change comes from internal, embodied insight, not external doctrine.
In simple terms: Body fights forced morals; change is internal.
Cultivate self-awareness beyond imposed beliefs.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- therapy sessions
- personal journaling
- creative writing
- philosophical study
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What internal signals reveal authentic values?
- How can you separate inherited beliefs from personal truth?
External moral systems can still dominate.