"About the rotten apple and generally about any seed. I don't know if I will be able to express myself. get the idea: My body is destroying itself. This is how the body of a rotten apple is destroyed. The apple, the seed coat, rots, the seed remains which produces other apples and other apples. Even clearer is the case of seeds that do not have a body shell, such as cereals. Is it possible that the only purpose of the apple is to reproduce its kind? Is it possible for man to have the same purpose? But there is already something else in the apple besides the reproductive seed, the covering that has its purpose. Obviously, man must also have another purpose besides reproduction. Moreover, that other purpose is the true, the main purpose. Reproduction is the most insignificant and it is not even a purpose, because repeating the same thing does not make sense. What is the purpose of this?
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Author
Leo TolstoyAll Translations
All Translations
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About the rotten apple and generally about any seed. I don't know if I will be able to express myself. get the idea: My body is destroying itself. This is how the body of a rotten apple is destroyed. The apple, the seed coat, rots, the seed remains which produces other apples and other apples. Even clearer is the case of seeds that do not have a body shell, such as cereals. Is it possible that the only purpose of the apple is to reproduce its kind? Is it possible for man to have the same purpose? But there is already something else in the apple besides the reproductive seed, the covering that has its purpose. Obviously, man must also have another purpose besides reproduction. Moreover, that other purpose is the true, the main purpose. Reproduction is the most insignificant and it is not even a purpose, because repeating the same thing does not make sense. What is the purpose of this?
""Despre mărul putred și în general despre orice sămânță. Nu știu dacă voi putea să mă exprim. lată ideea: Trupul meu se distruge. Tot astfel se distruge corpul unui măr putred. Mărul, învelișul seminței, putrezește, rămâne sămânța care produce alți meri și alte mere. Încă mai limpede e cazul semințelor care nu au înveliș corporal, cum sunt cerealele. E cu putință oare ca singura menire a mărului să fie reproducerea celor asemănători lui? E cu putință ca omul să aibă aceeași menire? Dar în măr există deja și altceva în afara seminței reproducătoare, învelișul care are menirea lui. Evident și omul trebuie să aibă și o altă menire în afara de reproducere. Și mai mult, acea altă menire este cea adevărată, principala menire. Reproducerea e cea mai neînsemnată și nici măcar nu-i o menire, căci repetarea aceluiași lucru n-are sens. Care e menirea asta?"