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Jose Ortega Y Gassett, The Revolt Of The Masses
CHAPTER IV: THE INCREASE OF LIFE
Page 2
But after all, the really important increase of our world does not lie in its greater dimensions, but in its containing many more things. Each of these things- the word is to be taken in its widest acceptation- is something which we can desire, attempt, do, undo, meet with, enjoy or repel; all notions which imply vital activities. Take any one of our ordinary activities; buying, for example. Imagine two men, one of the present day and one of the XVIIIth Century, possessed of equal fortunes relatively to money-values in their respective periods, and compare the stock of purchasable things offered to each. The difference is almost fabulous. The range of possibilities opened out before the present-day purchaser has become practically limitless. It is not easy to think of and wish for anything which is not to be found in the market, and vice versa, it is not possible for a man to think of and wish for everything that is actually offered for sale. I shall be told that with a fortune relatively equal, the man of to-day cannot buy more goods than the man of the XVIIIth Century. This is not the case. Many more things can be bought to-day, because manufacture has cheapened all articles. But after all, even if it were the case, it would not concern my point, rather would it stress what I am trying to say. The purchasing activity ends in the decision to buy a certain object, but for that very reason it is previously an act of choice, and the choice begins by putting before oneself the possibilities offered by the market. Hence it follows that life, in its "purchasing" aspect, consists primarily in living over the possibilities of buying as such. When people talk of life they generally forget something which to me seems most essential, namely, that our existence is at every instant and primarily the consciousness of what is possible to us. If at every moment we had before us no more than one possibility, it would be meaningless to give it that name. Rather would it be a pure necessity, But there it is: this strangest of facts that a fundamental condition of our existence is that it always has before it various prospects, which by their variety acquire the character of possibilities among which we have to make our choice.[2]
[2]In the worst case, if the world seemed reduced to one single outlet there would still be two: either that or to leave the world. But leaving the world forms part of the world, as a door is part of a room.