Crop Rotation Agitation.
Method of the rotation was introduced and successfully used by A to overcome boredom of life. A proves that crop rotation works for him as he applies it through life. Here I will describe method’s conception and sustainability, what it takes to apply this method and what are its costs. I’m also arguing why this method is successful for A and somebody who possess resembling personality.
Aesthete A believes that “all people are boring” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 285). This generic principle, according to A, is repelling force that induces to make discoveries, if applied right. Later he develops this statement to the conclusion that “boredom is the root of evil” and must be annulled. Boredom is equally fatal for an individual, state and humanity, due to its ability to widespread and indurate. “Pains and circenses”, A wrote, is the only way to treat that poisoners condition. Danish people should spend their debt on public entertainment to avoid “foundering from boredom” claimed A.
All people are boring; but some are worse than the others. “Boring” equally applies to people who bore others and these, who bore themselves. A founds first kind the worst not only because of his concern regarding plebeians, “the endless train of humanity” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p.288), the most unbearable ones, simple people who are busy in the world. The second type is superior and generally amusing. A ironically admits that people of that type are often “die of boredom (passive category) or shoot themselves out of curiosity (active category)” when boredom reaches its maximum (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 289).
Proclaiming idleness to be a treat against boredom, A wrote that it appears to be authentically divine life, if only one is not bored. Individual accusing idleness to be a root of evil “has not raised himself of the human level” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 289). Otium est pulvinar diaboli; when people aren’t bored the devil has no time to use his pillow. A sees amusion as a human’s destiny, but suggests that not everyone is capable to achieve, in virtue of belonging to a certain category of people. It is also important not go too far in eccentric diversion, since it has boredom within itself. Sometimes we meet people that commit the most ridiculous actions out of greatest boredom and in search for amusement. Oscar Wild’s protagonist Dorian Grey, who is infinitely bored with immortality, often acted out of boredom trying to satisfy his monstrous appetite.
Crop rotation “depends upon the boundless infinity of change, its extensive dimension.” The main principle of the method is constant changes of activities in order to maximize the enjoyment and pleasure derived from it. Changing method of cultivation, as A proposed, leads to aesthetic way of life. “The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 292). Principle of limitation, essential to rotation method, directly affects once ability to innovate (i.e. become more resourceful). This is the highest boundary of the principle that seeks relief not trough extensity but trough intensity, A wrote (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p.292).
The universal rule of the relation between recollecting and forgetting application is only way for successful change; this functions must be under control. “To forget is an art that must be practiced in advance.” A argues that this ability depends upon actuality experience and trough remembering it. Hope makes this experience unforgettable. As soon an individual values particular moment in certain way, he or she will never forget it. On the other hand, particular moment has to be fulfilled in a way that it will be easily remembered. In my opinion it’s a contradictory statement; now, in 2016 we know that there is no scientific proof of human ability to control our own memory. Remembering and forgetting are complex brain functions that require not only mental, but also physical interference. Besides this, to establish particular same attitude towards every moment of life seems impossible, but also is attribution of psychopathy. A seeks to achieve unachievable, but if he is in such a condition, this are bad news. Contradiction in terms! Selective memory; act of remembering mixed in within forgetting, they act on behalf of each other.
Poetical remembering is a key to forgetting; everything painful washes away. Here, A mentions successful experience of the rotation method for a very first time. The most important part of the poetical remembering is to “be very much aware of how one lives, especially of how one enjoys” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 293); indiscriminate enjoyment often leads to overkill attachment to the particular memory, making forgetting and remembering impossible. That is why enjoyment has to be under control and never devote oneself fully to the enterprise, in spite the level of interest. If a person perfects the art of forgetting and remembering, he or she can “lift the whole world” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p.295) and become absolutely free.
Friendship, marriage and official post are three main accounts that never should be done by somebody who seeks for aesthetic way of life. In spite the fact that these actions viewed by A as incredibly boring, they also include different sorts of commitments that are fatal to one’s freedom. Friendship makes one to become everything for the other, obligates to participate in friend’s life, help when it’s needed and etc. In light of the A’s theory commitments are unnecessary time and energy waste. All relationships have to be flexible enough, so one day A can exit them. Get trapped into an action or relationships with a person creates improper attachment followed by memories that are at odds with the rotation method. Marriage is another type of commitment criticized by A. It requires more than friendship, because it’s a commitment not only to another person, but also to a church and to god, this is why moral obligations of marriage are stricter that friendship ones. Marriage won’t make the one the whole with spouse, claims A. Instead one will “become many” (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p.297) and lose freedom. “Never take an official post,” suggests A (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 298), it is going to make one many with the crowed, the last thing aesthete seeks. Law that one has to obey is equally boring and causes life-lasting slavery. True aesthete will find activity that is amusing and won’t affect one’s freedom. Changing field (place, activity or people) is necessary for crop rotation, but most important is to constantly change oneself. It can be done only if person controls own emotions, catching them at the right moment, learning how certain emotions impact life to gain this experience and apply through life.
“The more practice one has, the more one is convinced that there is often much in a person that was never imagined,” shares A. His own experience of crop rotation takes outbreak in experimenting with others. People often become an objective of his aesthetic experiments. This fact is fascinating, in light of A’s constant denial of human relationships (except erotic ones that exist only six month). Either he does it unconsciously, or he is in denial of own nature, trying to build artificial attitude to others. Glorifying his own experience, he likes to teases and irritates boring people to an extent when they become amusing for him. Arguably, it can be only way for A to receive intellectual and aesthetic satisfaction, because of his isolation from close relationships.
Arbitrariness is another key that needs to be mastered in order to enjoy. Different people (accounts aesthetes only, because “plebeians” has no capacity to enjoy) often enjoy different aspects of life brought up by arbitrariness; aesthetes often enjoy something totally accidental. A himself founds pleasure watching his boring friend sweating while talking. “Something accidental is made into the absolute and as such into an object of absolute admiration,” wrote A (E/O1, “Crop Rotation”, p. 300). The way one views the world shall constantly change, otherwise one won’t find the accidental. Therefore, one has to be constantly open to arbitrariness, ready to catch what is coming up in details that will interest him or her, because even small detail can bring significance into aesthete’s life.
Through the lens of first part of “Either/Or”, collection of A’s writings, reader can retrace success of the application of rotation method. Success with one stipulation: only someone who tries to reject the society as much as A would consider it a success. For majority of people, whether they are “plebeians” or aesthetes, abstain all commitments suggested by A is too costly, in spite the fact that being bored sometimes is alright.
Then on one scale we have social institutions as family, friendship and job, on the other life full of aesthetic experiments and experiences, complete absence of commitments and freedom. A’s choice, I would argue, is a subject to his age (we know he is fairly young), life-style (having reputation of seducer) and his persuasions, as we just ensured. A’s nihilism, whether it’s natural or crafted, allows him to ignore social conventionalities and perfect his own set of values that founds its roots in the “world of ideas”. Potentially, his views on traditional life-style were too ahead of time he lived in. His views are absolutely normal and quite common for 21st century. Today many young people think that marriage is not necessary for happy life, nobody wants to inhabit cubicle in the boring office, and everyone seek creativity. People become mobile and expectations of life changed; friendship and romantic relationships become what they never been before. I have a feeling that A would be simultaneously amazed and disgusted by our time; there is still not as much aesthetical as life that is free of the rotation.
Personally, I believe that intellectual development is far more important than personal relationships, but human is a social animal, and it is in our nature to get involved in all kind of relationships and this is the part of this development. It is impossible to master the subject without interacting. I believe that human behavior can be learnt only through conchoids experience, i.e. A has to know nothing about human relationships, if he never was involved in it. The knowledge argument, also known as Mary’s room, debates that one can’t have full knowledge about subject, without experiencing it. As a color vision to Mary, being a part of relationships to A helps to gain knowledge, often central to the subject, only through experiencing it. I believe that A, describing relationships with inherent accuracy and deepness, had dramatic experience that disappointed him once and made him skeptical forever.
In conclusion, I would like to admit the fact of the confidence he has for the rotation method and in particular its successful application.
I see A as a nihilist, who unconsciously hiding behind the wall of disavowal. He is not ascetic; he has B’s friendship and finds joy in every day of his life, he enjoys women, wine and art. He seeks amusement because it is central to his personal philosophy and his unwillingness to live like majority does, where boredom is an everyday routine, life that is full of despair and without acknowledgment. His values and actions are questionable and costly for ethicists, moralists and religious people, but for him and anybody who is like him they create true aesthetic way of living.
