I thought of the fate of Descartes’ famous formulation: man as ‘master and proprietor of nature.’ Having brought off miracles in science and technology, this ‘master and proprietor’ is suddenly realizing that he owns nothing and is master neither of nature (it is vanishing, little by little, from the planet), nor of History (it has escaped him), nor of himself (he is led by the irrational forces of his soul). But if God is gone and man is no longer master, then who is master? The planet is moving through the void without any master. There it is, the unbearable lightness of being.

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About Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera was a 20th-century French and french novelist. Milan Kundera was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • God — Spiritual reflections on the divine, faith, and creation
  • History — Lessons from the past and the arc of human civilisation
  • Nature — Appreciation for the natural world and our place within it

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