【The Eyes Of A Drunk Female Employee Are Erotic】
Some Thoughts About the Soul
Arts & Culture
A textile design by Varvara Stepanova, 1924.
In the opinion of well-read governesses and educated governors’ wives, the soul is an indeterminable entity of psychological substance. I have no reason to disagree with this.
One scholar writes: “To discover the soul, take a man just given a dressing-down by management and tie off his foot with a belt. Make an incision in the heel and you’ll find what’s sought.”
I believe in the transmigration of souls … I’ve come to this belief through experience. My own soul, in all the time of my earthly suffering, has traversed many animals and plants, and endured all the stages and realms spoken of by the Buddha …
I was a pup when I was born, and a goose when I entered public life. Starting in government service, I became small potatoes. My boss dubbed me a brick, friends—a jackass, freethinkers—a sheep. Traveling along the railroads, I was a rabbit; living in a village among peasants, I felt myself a leech. After one instance of embezzlement I was for some time a scapegoat. Marrying, I became horned cattle. Embarking, finally, on the one true path, I acquired a belly and became a triumphant swine.1
1. A reference to “The Triumphant Swine, or The Swine’s Conversation with the Truth,” an 1881 dramatic scene by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, in which the truth chats with a pig, and by the end gets eaten.
Translated from the Russian by Elina Alter.
Alter is a writer and translator in New York. Look for her translations of Chekhov sketches each day this week on the Daily.
Search
Categories
Latest Posts
Fear and Loathing in Cascadia
2025-06-25 22:24Apple comes down hard on apps that record screen activity
2025-06-25 22:21The second presidential debate, told through Hillary Clinton's faces
2025-06-25 21:38A very special Trump supporter, a happy anniversary for workers
2025-06-25 21:03Popular Posts
The Crown Prince
2025-06-25 22:04Ken Bone was the light in the dark second presidential debate tunnel
2025-06-25 21:54Apple comes down hard on apps that record screen activity
2025-06-25 21:08Online dating takes too much time. Here’s how to be more efficient.
2025-06-25 20:36Old-School Organizing in the Heartland
2025-06-25 20:19Featured Posts
Foul Shot
2025-06-25 22:33One tweet summarizes tonight's presidential debate
2025-06-25 22:28And the final Donald Trump 'manterruption' count is ...
2025-06-25 22:02Here's the dating app for you, based on your zodiac sign
2025-06-25 20:46The People’s Platform Goes to Washington
2025-06-25 20:45Popular Articles
Unfree Agents
2025-06-25 22:24Trump lurks like a hungry ghost behind Clinton during entire debate
2025-06-25 21:04Donald Trump is hell
2025-06-25 20:53Trump lurks like a hungry ghost behind Clinton during entire debate
2025-06-25 20:27Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Comments (1131)
Wave Information Network
The Commons are Rumbling
2025-06-25 22:12Unique Information Network
Ken Bone was the light in the dark second presidential debate tunnel
2025-06-25 22:04Passion Information Network
Here's the dating app for you, based on your zodiac sign
2025-06-25 21:24Progress Information Network
Here's the dating app for you, based on your zodiac sign
2025-06-25 20:27Openness Information Network
The Reaching-Out Industry
2025-06-25 20:05