by Azra Raza
When King Midas asked Silenus what the best thing for man is, Silenus replied, “It is better not to have been born at all. The next best thing for man would be to die quickly.”
Herein lies the essential contradiction; we begin to die from the moment of birth. Walt Whitman not only embraces this existential incongruity, he asserts that being contradictory is a positive, desirable virtue: “Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes).” If you don’t contradict yourself, you are leading a simple, unexamined inner life. His large persona contains opposing, conflicting, paradoxical “multitudes” providing opportunities for self-discovery, and for change. Change is a good thing. Whitman’s friend Emerson summed it up: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Other articles in the series:
Part 1: The First Cell, Part 1: Old Yet A New Cancer Model
Part 2: The First Cell, Part 2: Transposed Heads
Part 3: The First Cell, Part 3: Force Majeure — Oncologists Are As Desperate As Their Patients
part 5: The First Cell, Part 5: The Secret Sharer: Hybrid Cancer Cells