Words from the oracle

For the last few years, my mind has kept circling back to the cryptic ideas of Walter Benjamin, a radical and somewhat mystical Jewish philosopher who committed suicide when in the Pyrenees when it seemed like escape from Nazi-occupied France would be impossible.

It's weird that I keep going back there because I'm pretty sure I don't understand 90+ percent of what he says, but every now and then a line will jump out at me and stop me in my tracks.

I have two quotes from him today. I can't find the original source for this one but here goes:

"Behind every fascism there is a failed revolution."

I take that to mean that when the positive movements of life are defeated and thwarted, the door opens for darker journeys. I've seen that happen over the course of my life.

Then there's this thought about the nature of social change:

“Perhaps revolutions are not the train ride, but the human race grabbing for the emergency brake.” 

In any case, I'm not crazy about the train ride we're on now.