Geworfenheit of the Unwelcome ‘Eule’

“Into this world we’re thrown

Like a dog without a bone"
— Riders on the Storm

Xerxes grieved for being-in-the-world. To be what he chose to become, Xerxes had to abandon members of his nuclear household. To Xerxes, nuclear household attached meaning to being. But, Xerxes had chosen to love the forbidden fruit. Hence, the ‘choice to become’ made the experience of being-in-the-world for Xerxes devoid of meaning. This choice condemned Xerxes to live the loneliest loneliness. Xerxes had never felt hatred so strong that he did for being-in-the-world. Indeed, this was a sore that had gnawed at his being in solitude and diminished it.

A demon appeared to Xerxes to suggest, “This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more.” In response, Xerxes gnashed his teeth and cursed the demon. The demon exclaimed: “Never have I suggested anything more divine.” To Xerxes, living with nuclear household at the expense of abandoning the love of the forbidden fruit would have meant nothing but a life-long, self-sponsored imprisonment. Xerxes freed himself of imprisonment. But, this freedom brought upon him loneliness. The dialectic of subjective freedom and objective loneliness seems to remind Xerxes that “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”