22.08.2019
A man never goes so far as when he does not know whither he is going
The text is narrated in the first person. Author: Ilya Denisov.
Not everyone knows that a limited edition booklet of Knight & Wolf has a quote on it: «A man never goes so far as when he does not know whither he is going».
Accompanying works with the quotes of distinguished personalities or excerpts from valuable writings is an old-fashioned tradition that many authors use to fill their works with some additional meanings and strengthen emotional colouring. I do not find it vulgar and decided to find an appropriate quote which would be crucial for the idea that my father and I imbued in the Knight’s story.
When I was looking for a quote I didn’t really aimed to find exactly this one. While searching for the right words I had to plunge into the stories about prominent men, who had to go through many challenges and that’s why could be a great embodiment of the project idea. I was looking for illustration of man sacrifices for a big dream to prove the cyclical nature of the things that happen to us over generations.
I have chosen to look closely at the beginning and the middle of the 20th century when man had to go through the worst events in all of human history. Why so? Only during one generation almost all ancient empires had been destroyed, industrialization and ideologies celebration happened. These times took a lot of men but it also gave birth to those who survived and altered the course of culture by telling the world about true human nature through their works.
Accompanying works with the quotes of distinguished personalities or excerpts from valuable writings is an old-fashioned tradition that many authors use to fill their works with some additional meanings and strengthen emotional colouring. I do not find it vulgar and decided to find an appropriate quote which would be crucial for the idea that my father and I imbued in the Knight’s story.
When I was looking for a quote I didn’t really aimed to find exactly this one. While searching for the right words I had to plunge into the stories about prominent men, who had to go through many challenges and that’s why could be a great embodiment of the project idea. I was looking for illustration of man sacrifices for a big dream to prove the cyclical nature of the things that happen to us over generations.
I have chosen to look closely at the beginning and the middle of the 20th century when man had to go through the worst events in all of human history. Why so? Only during one generation almost all ancient empires had been destroyed, industrialization and ideologies celebration happened. These times took a lot of men but it also gave birth to those who survived and altered the course of culture by telling the world about true human nature through their works.
The first booklet spread from the international edition of the Knight and Wolf music album.
One of such men was Ernst Junger who was a combat officer, writer, publicist and thinker. Having lived more than 100 years, he took part in two World Wars and witnessed the key events of the 20th century. He participated in the bloodiest battles of the First World War where he was wounded 14 times. He was recommended a decoration including the highest one. Junger created many literary works which became a reflection of the times before and after the Second World War. Apart from military medals, he also received numerous awards for his literary writings in Germany and worldwide.
He was one of those men who were concerned about their motherland fortune. His earlier works created during and right after the First World War are filled with patriotism and nationalism. In Storm of Steel, one of his key works at that time, he describes the horrors of war but he presents himself as an officer and a patriot of his country.
This and other works during the First World War helped him to influence the minds of the German people. Even though he distanced himself from the fascist regime in 1934, his earlier writings had an effect on the development of nationalist socialist movement and the rise of militaristic ideas and Germany mobilization. It is known for certain that Hitler felt piety towards him and had the greatest respect to his writings.
He was one of those men who were concerned about their motherland fortune. His earlier works created during and right after the First World War are filled with patriotism and nationalism. In Storm of Steel, one of his key works at that time, he describes the horrors of war but he presents himself as an officer and a patriot of his country.
This and other works during the First World War helped him to influence the minds of the German people. Even though he distanced himself from the fascist regime in 1934, his earlier writings had an effect on the development of nationalist socialist movement and the rise of militaristic ideas and Germany mobilization. It is known for certain that Hitler felt piety towards him and had the greatest respect to his writings.
Junger served his country in both World Wars.
During the Second World War he did not support nazis but he was drafted as an officer and took part in many battles. Even though he had Hitler’s direct support he had never been an official voice of a Fascist Germany. In the course of the Second World War he started criticizing the ideology of national socialism and reconsidered his attitude to war as it is. He was starting to be more preoccupied about the crimes against humanity committed not only by Germany but by the other sides of the conflict.
As a result, Junger became close with the French resistance and communicated with the participants of Stauffenberg colonel conspiracy. It was a failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. His connections with the conspirators was disclosed but Hitler’s protection saved him from death. He was discharged from the army and from that time on he could only observe an agonizing fascist regime leading his country to a disaster.
Despite of the many ravages of war, his biggest tragedy awaited him before the end of war, when in 1944 his first son Ernst Junger Junior died in the battle for Italy. It’s not hard to figure why this event made Junger reconsider his views on war completely. As a result the world saw the most famous work called The Peace where Junger described absolutely new and, in many ways, pacifist views.
Ernst Junger had written many thousands lines that could have served as a great epilogue for even more thousands literary works. But he was not the author of the quote: «A man never goes so far as when he does not know whither he is going». Actually he discovered this quote in Ernst Junger Junior’s diary after the latter’s death. The original author of this saying is Oliver Cromwell, an English statesman of 17 century.
Having learned about that, I realized that this quote would be the best way to put our work into one sentence. Even though the author of this quote is not Ernst Junger, I wrote that he was an author in our music edition. It’s not that important what Oliver Cromwell said and meant about that. What is far more important here is that a young man who encountered himself in turbulent times, entitled his diary in such a way.
As a result, Junger became close with the French resistance and communicated with the participants of Stauffenberg colonel conspiracy. It was a failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. His connections with the conspirators was disclosed but Hitler’s protection saved him from death. He was discharged from the army and from that time on he could only observe an agonizing fascist regime leading his country to a disaster.
Despite of the many ravages of war, his biggest tragedy awaited him before the end of war, when in 1944 his first son Ernst Junger Junior died in the battle for Italy. It’s not hard to figure why this event made Junger reconsider his views on war completely. As a result the world saw the most famous work called The Peace where Junger described absolutely new and, in many ways, pacifist views.
Ernst Junger had written many thousands lines that could have served as a great epilogue for even more thousands literary works. But he was not the author of the quote: «A man never goes so far as when he does not know whither he is going». Actually he discovered this quote in Ernst Junger Junior’s diary after the latter’s death. The original author of this saying is Oliver Cromwell, an English statesman of 17 century.
Having learned about that, I realized that this quote would be the best way to put our work into one sentence. Even though the author of this quote is not Ernst Junger, I wrote that he was an author in our music edition. It’s not that important what Oliver Cromwell said and meant about that. What is far more important here is that a young man who encountered himself in turbulent times, entitled his diary in such a way.
Ernst Junger was one of those who survived in the Hell trenches of the First World War.
It’s important to mention that Ernst Junger was a soldier. He killed people and that’s why probably the death of one person, even his son did not shock him in a way that it could a contemporary man living in a city. But at those times everyone was walking close to death, the times themselves were blood soaked. It was Junger himself who suggested his son joining the army. Nevertheless, Ernst Junger was a father and the peace that he fought for was deserved by his son too.
The hero of our project and this article is not Ernst Junger but his first son who turned to be wiser than his father. In only one saying he managed to capture the essence of those times, showing the whole generation of misguided men. German soldiers sacrificed humanity for their views and their country’s greatness. United by a dream, they could not stop and went too far, advocating for what is good and what is bad.
Story of Ernst Junger and his son is an exemplary one. It’s a great illustration of what the collapse of a big dream can lead to and that’s why it is instructive. This is an example of sacrifice for symbols.
That is why I believe that it is important to know the history and the biography of men like Ernst Junger. This is not about being an aesthete, doing intellectual exercises, digging up old bones, looking at differences in uniforms or saying who’s right and who’s wrong. Instead, we need to learn such things to realize that people do not really understand what is good and what is bad and that’s why they cannot live without certain symbols that embody these notions.
I think that all human activities are focused on surrounding each other by symbols that wait for you to believe in them, hate them, love them and deny. If you think about it, this is what we actually do most of the time and we have no other perception of our purpose in life. We sacrifice for fiction, and it's amazing.
The history lesson which I believe we should learn, tells us that a new generation should be aware when it discards old symbols, that its new life purpose, new symbols overcomplicate a fantasy world and not a real world.
When next time we get asked to sacrifice our life for a dream, we should remember that any dream is just someone’s fantasy and in the worst case, a self-delusion. So should we sacrifice our life for a big but still a self-delusion? I truly doubt that.
The hero of our project and this article is not Ernst Junger but his first son who turned to be wiser than his father. In only one saying he managed to capture the essence of those times, showing the whole generation of misguided men. German soldiers sacrificed humanity for their views and their country’s greatness. United by a dream, they could not stop and went too far, advocating for what is good and what is bad.
Story of Ernst Junger and his son is an exemplary one. It’s a great illustration of what the collapse of a big dream can lead to and that’s why it is instructive. This is an example of sacrifice for symbols.
That is why I believe that it is important to know the history and the biography of men like Ernst Junger. This is not about being an aesthete, doing intellectual exercises, digging up old bones, looking at differences in uniforms or saying who’s right and who’s wrong. Instead, we need to learn such things to realize that people do not really understand what is good and what is bad and that’s why they cannot live without certain symbols that embody these notions.
I think that all human activities are focused on surrounding each other by symbols that wait for you to believe in them, hate them, love them and deny. If you think about it, this is what we actually do most of the time and we have no other perception of our purpose in life. We sacrifice for fiction, and it's amazing.
The history lesson which I believe we should learn, tells us that a new generation should be aware when it discards old symbols, that its new life purpose, new symbols overcomplicate a fantasy world and not a real world.
When next time we get asked to sacrifice our life for a dream, we should remember that any dream is just someone’s fantasy and in the worst case, a self-delusion. So should we sacrifice our life for a big but still a self-delusion? I truly doubt that.
“
We had come from lecture halls, school desks and factory workbenches, and over the brief weeks of training, we had bonded together into one large and enthusiastic group. Grown up in an age of security, we shared a yearning for danger, for the experience of the extraordinary. We were enraptured by war. We had set out in a rain of flowers, in a drunken atmosphere of blood and roses. Surely the war had to supply us with what we wanted; the great, the overwhelming, the hallowed experience. We thought of it as manly, as action, a merry duelling party on flowered, blood-bedewed meadows. ‘No finer death in all the world than …’ Anything to participate, not to have to stay at home!
