"Belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light." -- Franz Kafka
What do you think this quote means?
2006-07-30 16:41:02 · 4 answers · asked by askandanswer 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
A guillotine is the machine used by the French Revolutionaries to cut off victims' heads. It was famed for being razor sharp and physically light, but it was morally heavy, responsible for many deaths. In the same way, religion is morally heavy, locking believers into a controlled system of behavior and consequences, but is light in the respect that it has no physical reality and also in the sense that belief is intangible - it cannot be pinned down.
2006-07-30 21:21:23 · answer #1 · answered by mel 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Belief (particularly religious) can be heavy; it weighs you down with the rules you're supposed to follow, the punishments for not following them, the responsibility to behave in certain ways. It's a lot of work to have belief! But having a belief is also light; the feeling that someone greater than yourself is on your side, that you're part of a greater plan, that your life has purpose are all feelings that lift you up and make your heart lighter.
2006-07-30 16:51:14 · answer #2 · answered by Pink Denial 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i doesn't make sense. guillotine isn't light or heavy. i can make a connection between belief and a guillotine but it doesn't include heavy or light
2006-07-30 16:46:12 · answer #3 · answered by bustedmattjay 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just as heavy in that it has that death and belief are so serious to us mortls, and just as light in that, it really doesn't matter.
2006-07-30 17:26:38 · answer #4 · answered by keats27 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋