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The unbearable lightness of being: re-sourcing catholic intellectual traditions.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
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Cross Currents
- Article date:
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March 22, 2008
- Author:
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2008 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A human condition both catholic and Catholic
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: even for those who have not read Milan Kundera's dense metaphysical novel (or seen the movie based on it) the title is probably familiar. Familiar but also perhaps enigmatic--intentionally so, because the title is a play on words, a joke from the author of The Joke. (1)
In theory, lightness--in the sense of weightlessness--ought to be easy to bear. A five-pound bag of sugar is light; a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound barbell might well be unbearable. It is heaviness, of course, that we would usually find unbearable.
But when it comes to being, things are different. It is the lightness, the ...