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NEOIST Azione / Labyrinth


For a long time in my happiness I had contemplated the best means for my suicide, remembering Wittgenstein having suggested that "without the thought or the constant possibility of killing myself, I would have surely lost interest in living and committed suicide", and of course it was difficult to weed through the possible methods, until I have discarded them all. In division and unity in my mind in the midst of which I hide, I discovered one method which, although conceptually uninteresting, seems like it might be the practical best choice. This method would involve trying to photograph everything one sees or comes in contact with for 365 days. This exhausting impossible task is designated "Phase 1". "Phase 2", the difinitive [sic], or "killer" phase would involve printing the photos and then asystematically attempting to glue them at random to objects, attempting to cover all of the objects which were initially photographed with prints. The accumulated photos (hopefully in the thousands) would kill me, or at least put me in a state preparatory for my own suicide. The primary problem with such 'long range' suicide schemes is not, as would be assumed, that they give rise to existential problems but instead the difficulty in explaining them to close companions. In the case of this method, the best 'explination', or catalyst to understanding, is probably to be found in philosophy. I suggest that you (and I) refer to Wittgenstein again, particularly to the anecdote in which he made clear his eating habits, and in doing so, his entire lifestyle. Ludwig said "I do not so much care WHAT I eat, so long as it is always THE SAME." You may say that this will make your friend think you are crazy, but if they think that after hearing the words of a famous philosopher, who needs them anyway? Famous philosophers have always been extraneous. I am reminded of Wittgenstein's frequent sexual activity 'outside his class' (a sign of Neoist activity) and also his prolonged suicide attempt (which was only partially successful) which had as its method 'playing chess without a board or opponent'. In order to do this Wittgenstein would stare moodily at objects and then move them in relation to one another, occasionally laughing to himself or shouting "Schach". The idea was that this was supposed to kill him from exhaustion, which he had found defined as 'the most pious of deaths' in the New Oxford Medical/Theological Dictionary of translation. Ironically, although his chess suicide failed, he began to teach at Oxford in 1921, and continued to talk to himself.