We've all been in a line
upwards 
to a horizon
counting the steps we take
as if we count for something

Infinity was, for a long time, a philosophical concept. We now live our lives as if we live forever, having a handful of genuine experiences at the end, where the rest is just meaningless time between these events, meaningless like a single drop is in a stream going down, part of it all but also not. We live as if life has no value because we still cannot believe that this is it; you don’t wash away hundreds of generations of indoctrination in the big promise of an afterlife or reincarnation.

The invention of gods by the first bullies that society encountered took away our life’s value and its finite character. The limitless power promised by the orators came at the cost of our bondage; the orators demanded our lives for their wars if we want our reward.  Today, we march in line believing in the myth of religion, country, and hollow promises of happiness. Like children, we all believe or concede. Even if you know that you are taken by the current against your will, there is nowhere to go but to enjoy that you are taken. 

“What is the ideal state? It will be the historical form that encompasses all mankind. However, we will not define this form in more detail, because it is quite a minor matter: the main thing is the citizen of the ideal state. He will be what individuals have been since the beginning of history: a thoroughly free man. He has completely outgrown the taskmaster of historical laws and forms and stands above the law, free from all political, economic and spiritual fetters. All external forms are fragmented: man is completely emancipated. All driving forces have gradually disappeared from the life of mankind: Power, property, fame, marriage; all emotional ties have gradually been torn: man is weary. His spirit now judges life correctly and his will is kindled by this judgment. Now the heart is filled with only one longing: to be blotted out forever from the great book of life. And the will reaches its goal: absolute death.”

“Auf diese Weise wird endlich der ideale Staat in die Erscheinung treten. Was ist der ideale Staat? Er wird die historische Form sein, welche die ganze Menschheit umfaßt. Wir werden jedoch diese Form nicht näher bestimmen, denn sie ist durchaus Nebensache: die Hauptsache ist der Bürger des idealen Staates. Er wird sein, was Einzelne seit Beginn der Geschichte gewesen sind: in durchaus freier Mensch. Er ist dem Zuchtmeister der historischen Gesetze und Formen vollständig entwachsen und steht, frei von allen politischen, ökonomischen und geistigen Fesseln, über dem Gesetz. Zersplittert sind alle äußeren Formen: der Mensch ist vollkommen emancipirt. Alle Triebfedern sind allmählich aus dem Leben der Menschheit geschwunden: Macht, Eigenthum, Ruhm, Ehe; alle Gefühlsbande sind allmählich zerrissen worden: der Mensch ist matt. Sein Geist beurtheilt jetzt richtig das Leben und sein Wille entzündet sich an diesem Urtheil. Jetzt erfüllt das Herz nur noch die eine Sehnsucht: ausgestrichen zu sein für immer aus dem großen Buche des Lebens. Und der Wille erreicht sein Ziel: den absoluten Tod.”

Philipp Mainländer, Philosophie der Erlösung, Erster Band (2014), Politik (Archive.org)