Chapter 56 Castle of the Soul - The Pain of Old Fox Crumb

The pain of the old fox Klamm is invisible, it is an old problem of human beings in the long history of thousands of years.Man is man because he has Klamm's pain.This kind of pain has become a constant expression of people. To experience it, people must use actions to break the balance. This is a gentleman of medium build, rather rich, and it seems that he must have limited mobility. K knew at the first sight of Master Klamm's fundamental problem: he was handicapped.How strange, how did he see it?The master sat at the table and didn't move at all!Perhaps the relationship between these two people can be called "heart-to-heart bond".In the later experience of K dealing with him, we know another crux of his problem: he cannot think.In order to think, he must always rely on KZ to leave K, and thinking is squeezed in his brain and cannot work.A person with limited mobility, who can only think but cannot think, is of course extremely weird and incomprehensible. K never understood Klamm, the relationship between them was established through telepathy.Don't think that because of this, the castle master Klamm has nothing to do, sleeps all day long, and chases women.If that were the case, the swelling thoughts in his brain would drive him mad and destroy him in no time.In order to find a way out of the pain, Klamm must constantly find a way out for his own thoughts.Having gone through vicissitudes and experience, he laid a net.So on a special day, K, a foreigner, walked into his network and became one with the arrogant master without knowing it.From that day on, with the help of K's hot-blooded body, Kram's thoughts began to spread outward.He sat in the castle and gazed at the countryman; his glazed eyes were actually full of expectation, and his mind became clear, but his pain did not lessen, but changed form, into one he liked .Intertwined with each other, the two play an eternal game together.

Kram knows that in the village of the castle, only the impact of K, a foreigner, can find a way out for the logic in his own brain.How tight and powerful is that logic, and its tension has no limit!But why not lessen the pain?It turned out to be the torment of the inner paradox, the sadness of not being able to truly break through, which is the fatal flaw of Kram's birth.Therefore, when people saw him, he always sat there, neither sleeping nor waking, any kind of expression was inappropriate for him, no matter who he saw, he couldn't bear it.But this troublesome thing has finally begun, and the old fox's thinking has expanded. K felt it, he felt it through his constant contact with the net, and everyone felt it too, Lord Castle's conspiracy, every one of them, and they were eager to make the show happen.Maybe this master has developed a sadistic temper during the long-term depression, maybe he is too pursuing the highest spiritual enjoyment. We have seen K suffer a lot under his hands. Fortunately, K has long learned to use numbness to come from I protect.The tacit understanding between Kramm and K is as follows: Kramm uses his thoughts to plan K's actions, and K uses his actions to realize Kramm's thoughts.This relationship seems simple, but in fact it is beyond K's imagination, it is beyond the imagination of the world.Because what Klamm demands from K is that impossible action, and his own thought is a delusion based on this action.After he asks K to perform an impossible action, his thought will be realized, and the realized thought will immediately become impossible to prove, and K needs to perform a new impossible action to prove it...From this On the other hand, Kramm and K are a bit like a pair of suffering brothers and sisters who love each other, and neither can live without the other.The superficially arrogant Klamm is also very pitiful. He is nervous, worried, and unable to move. All his hopes are tied to K. K's collapse or abandonment is his doom.Such a game was terrible, too, and Klamm chose it out of necessity; it was the only way out, the only way out for his mind.

See how K connects with Klamm in the climax of love:  … In such a state of mind, when he heard a low, cold commanding voice calling Frieda from Klamm's room, K, at least at first, did not feel frightened, but felt a sense of dread. Soothing sobriety. It can be seen that in the subconscious, K and Kram are connected.First K desecrates Klamm with vulgar love, and then K gets information from Klamm's call to his beloved: the relationship between him and Klamm is strengthening.His blasphemy is indeed a betrayal, and this betrayal (impossible action) fulfills exactly what Klamm thinks.After listening to the filthy scene outside, what kind of complicated emotions would Kram behind the tightly closed door have? What K does is what he thinks; but he must not see this ugly show, it is too much for his nerves.He had to say something, and he called, not to K (he must not call that dirty name), but to his lover Frieda, calling her with authority.But who can be sure that Kramm is not killing two birds with one stone?This call sounded both threatening and affirmative to K, and his mind immediately cleared up.At this time, he discovered that he who made love with his body would always fail in the reasoning game. Frieda, who was still in his arms just now, turned out to belong to Kramm, who was put down by Kramm to let his mind develop. bait. K is not reconciled, he wants to break through the logical child, he wants to launch a new round of offensive, at this time Kram is laughing secretly behind the door, a kind of laugh that hurts the most.When K behaved mischievously, Klamm's thoughts were pulled out like silk from a cocoon and woven into a logical web.Only he himself understands in his heart how important foreigners are to him.Because of the stranger, his thoughts can survive. The stranger is like rain, saving the plants that are about to wither in his mind;With regard to the relationship with Frieda, he was unable to love with actions, and K acted to love instead of him, so he immediately became active and denied the meaning of K's dirty actions with iron logic; he knew that K would go further. To trample his idea of ​​love with dirty acts to give him reason for further denial, so he snickers like a devil.Pain in this movement of thought is actually what Klamm is looking for, because every stage of development of thought intensifies the torment of resentment, and he still has to develop and bear it all.He just wants to experience K's intense stimulation from having sex with Frieda through the door. This is his way of life, a painful way.

(K) "It's a pity that this is also my sensitive area," said K, "but I can certainly restrain myself; but please tell me, madam, if Frieda is like you in this respect , then how on earth am I supposed to bear this terrible devotion to Klamm after marriage?" Cram's resentment turns love into a double-edged sword.The example of the proprietress' emotional experience made K shudder. K hoped that Frieda would keep her relationship with Klamm all the time, but he did not want the situation of "terrible unrequited love" mentioned by the proprietress, that is, Klamm would never come to Frieda again, but Frieda was still loyal Unswerving.The purpose of the landlady's narration is to tell K that Frieda's situation is not fundamentally different from hers.If it is really as the proprietress said, the situation K is facing is: Klamm has forgotten Frieda (K's hope of bargaining with Klamm through her has also come to naught), and Frieda is still devoted to Klamm forever. Be loyal to him (K will never get Frieda's true love).This was the situation the proprietress wanted K to endure.So does K hope that Frieda will love Klamm or that she will not?If Frieda no longer loves Klamm, K's connection with the castle will be blocked (he fell in love with Frieda because of this at the beginning); if Frieda is loyal to Klamm, K will have to Without her love, the bargain cannot be realized. K is caught in a terrible contradiction, and the cold words of the proprietress make him feel that life is meaningless.From Klamm's point of view, the pain is the same: if Frieda does not fall in love with K, Klamm's ideal love cannot develop, and can only stay in the empty stage; if Frieda falls in love with K, this evil Love is another trampling on Klamm's ideas, so that he would rather be blind than see.In Klamm’s model, K is worried from beginning to end, worrying that Klamm will never come to Frieda again, and also worried that Frieda is only focused on Klamm and doesn’t pay attention to him at all.In this dilemma, it was still necessary to break through, and finally broke through, and he ran to Barnabas' house to intensify the contradiction.So just after one good show was sung, another one started again.The characters on the stage must be old people with new clothes.

People in embarrassing situations cannot continuously break through, and people's physical strength is limited, so most of the time, K is always in the stage of "self-restraint".Restraint does not mean that he is insensitive, he is the same as the proprietress, the most sensitive thing is the direction of the wind of nothingness blowing from the castle; he is vigilant in his sensitivity, gathering his own strength, ready to break out and break through at any time China confronts nothingness.So, countless times, he had painful conflicts with Frieda and his assistants. After the conflicts, he endured humiliation to maintain this temporary family. As long as there is hope for this model, he will maintain it.Klamm's mind was the same as K's, and he always paid attention to giving K a little hope at the right time, so as to restrain his actions.Oftentimes, we can't tell the difference: Is K the pain or Kram the pain?Whose wounds are bleeding?This invisible Kram who lives in the invisible castle, the old fox who has been sleeping for thousands of years, why must he show up in such a disgusting way?Could he not find a better way?Complaining Despite complaining, one has to be overwhelmed by Klamm's shrewdness and thoroughness, so one can't help but join his game, because no one can resist the charm of this game.The answer to the above question K put to the proprietress should be: bear with it all the time, explode in endurance, and endure in explosion; the more terrible, the more he wants; don't expect real relief, every temporary relief will be It means that the body is tightened again, and the body shrinks accordingly, until finally the body completely disappears, and the soul leaves the body; but this process is still very long, so there is no need to be pessimistic now, just let it happen naturally. K said the answer with actions, and Kram must be very grateful to him. He changed the form of Kramm’s pain, from the torture of emptiness to reality, allowing him to experience the beauty of the castle again in this contrasting relationship, which is amazing. The beauty of human conflict lies in its tranquility precisely in its conflict.In this way, K's breakthrough became Klamm's breakthrough, and the thoughts in the master's huge head were released.

"What's the matter, madam," said K., "why did you put so much effort into stopping me and telling me not to bother to find Klamm, and now you take my request so seriously, as if you think that if I can't do anything about it?" It's all over? If you said that you sincerely persuaded me to give up the plan to find Kram, how could it be possible that you seem to be equally sincere and almost urging me to take this road? You even know that this road will not work at all. If you don’t reach the destination, you still want to help me go?” The purpose of the previous blocking and the current urging is the same. Both methods are the proprietress's usual skills, and what is hidden behind is her eagerness.Why is she in such a hurry?That's because Kram is anxious. He has been waiting for thousands of years. If he can't release it, his thoughts will be completely abandoned.So he greedily watched the stranger's every move, his heart trembling with tension.He urged K through the proprietress, asking him to run towards the unattainable goal; because time was running out, all hope was in this persistent movement, and there was no way to stop.He was still drowsy, his head drooping on his chest, his tense thoughts invisible.He sat there motionless, watching how vitality poured into his aging body.Perhaps one day he would yawn impatiently and ask his attendants, "Are the strangers still making trouble?" He lowered his head again and saw his own thoughts flow out in the drowsy drowsiness.There is no man in the world who is less free than this gentleman, who has to let others do even the smallest things, or something will happen; he can do nothing but sit in a daze, and he His actions are restrained, like a disabled person; although he has deep thoughts, these thoughts cannot be expressed at all.Now a foreigner comes, everything about him will be completely changed through this person, how can he not be anxious?

K didn't understand his mood, and this kind of "not understanding" was just the special kind of understanding that Klamm was looking forward to. Of course K can't escape the old fox's calculations. He has calculated for thousands of years, so could he be wrong?As K's thrilling acrobatics continued, every hollow somersault fell into the position that Kramm had set for him, and eventually even the proprietress could only open her mouth to watch.This natural acrobat, there is nothing difficult to beat him, and it was this that Kramm took a fancy to, and he entered Kramm's circle.But what about pain?Where did the pain go?The pain goes into the design of the show itself, which is premised on Crumb's pain.Crumb agonizes over watching, playing his mind to the fullest.Sometimes, when he was in a dark mood, he would design some traps for K, let K fall down again and again, and climb up again with his life, while he himself kept daydreaming absurdly while the pain continued.He would also struggle to wake up in those brief dreams, and ask the maid in a low voice: "Did that guy fall?" "It fell, and he is climbing up." The maid replied. "Poke him down again with a bamboo pole!" He commanded majestically, and soon fell into that dreamland again.Klamm never moaned, his character was very reserved, and he never frowned or twisted his face so that outsiders would never know his pain.But the time had come, and Klamm would go mad if he didn't show his pain.Performance?How does a reserved gentleman show his pain?Isn't this ridiculous?The impatient old fox finally planned K's incident, which allowed him to maintain his dignity and achieve his goal.His physical pain was conveyed to every subject of the castle through this ingenious way, and this unspeakable pain was also transformed into eternal pain in each of their hearts. Since then, they have been closely related to this foreigner , because he, and only he, is the performer of Crumb's inner pain.They cared as much about his fitness as he did about his manners, as his performances could make or break the castle.

(Frieda) "...look at their pair of eyes, those straight, but at the same time shining eyes, always remind me of Klamm's eyes somehow, yes, that's the word : That look in their eyes that sometimes gives me the chills is Klamm's! So, I was wrong when I said I was ashamed of them, I just wish I could. I know it would be silly and repulsive for someone else to do the same thing elsewhere, but they do it differently.I watched them do those stupid things with respect and admiration." This is what Frieda said to K. about the assistants.Why did Kramm send assistants to monitor K and Frieda?It seemed that those thoughts about shame were tormenting him in his head, and he needed K to perform shame for him.The main task of the assistant is here.The same thing, doing it consciously and doing it unconsciously produce very different feelings.So once Frieda saw Klamm's eyes from the assistants' eyes, the shame she felt for them (with the meaning of challenging Klamm) turned into respect and admiration for them; When Frieda behaved like that, all knowledge could only come about after the event, and as the person involved, he couldn't overcome his shyness.By nature, he had to reject the assistants, and because of Kramm's arrangement, he couldn't reject them, so he was always troubled by shame.Later, this kind of trouble became so unbearable that he had to go to extremes to break through the contradiction, but that was nothing more than changing the form of the existing trouble and pain.Kramm cannot think because of shame, and his thoughts must develop in shame. In this dilemma, he sent assistants who kept provoking K's sense of shame. On the surface, it seemed that they were hindering K from achieving his goal, but in fact they were leading him. Without deviating from the right path, let him fully display this great "flaw" of the human spirit.Through his pain, we see that shame constitutes the basic tone of spiritual life; if a person does not want to die, what else can he do but struggle bravely in the pain of shame like K?Therefore, during K's struggle, Kram's pain was continued without numbness, the thinker who could not think became active, and there was an endless stream of good ideas.

For K, if he wants to live and love, he must avoid the stares of his assistants.But the essence of this staring is Kramm’s rationality. Kramm knows K better than K himself, and he knows that K’s secular life cannot be separated from this staring.In the dilemma, K has no choice but to live, love, and consume himself in the conflict.When he did so, Frieda's wish, who was on the same side as Klamm, was also fulfilled through K.Frieda, who had been Kramm's mistress, of course knew the mystery of Kramm's thinking, so when she saw the eyes of the assistants, she understood it. In an instant, she felt the unspeakable pain in Kramm's heart. I can only stand in awe.Frieda's performance is full of rationality and self-consciousness. Compared with K, this performance always seems a bit weird and rigid, but she is indeed guiding K.Her performance was also designed by director Kramm, and in her relationship with K, she always reveals that kind of superior humor for knowing reasons, not because she is not suffering, but because she, like Kramm, Always mocking pain.For her, the assistant's stare is essential to the maintenance of the love between her and K; although she also has the urge to get rid of the assistant, in general she cannot do without them.Without Klamm's surveillance, her love for K would degenerate into pure sensuality, which was what she disliked the most.In fact, she was willing to let the shame accompany her, and she was also willing to roll in the dirty puddles with K, so that she could better feel Klamm's pain in the ensuing sense of shame.As long as the assistants didn't leave her for a day, her love for K would shine with the light of that idea, and they wouldn't get lost in the darkness, although she wanted so much to be completely lost.Her dilemma is that she wants to go back to Klamm, but also wants to go away with K.Her ending was the same as that of all the villagers, and she finally returned to the concept. The task assigned to her by the old fox was to assist K.

The most amazing thing is that Klamm, who is in such a difficult situation, still has such a calm demeanor.It is difficult for people to imagine how he developed such a complex and delicate thinking.So it seemed that his handicap was his advantage; he had limited mobility, so he stayed in his room thinking about it from morning to night, and didn't even sleep.The cause of his thinking was pain, the pain of not being able to think, and then he started thinking, and thinking aggravated the pain.As a disabled person like him, he can only live with pain, and only pain can activate his dead thinking.It was after choosing K that the pain became a reality, otherwise it was just some ideas crowded in his head.After the channel is unblocked, the pain will be continuously exported; the body of the foreigner has become his experimental product, and the disabled behind the scenes mobilized all the factors that can be mobilized to squeeze the pain from the foreigner as the basis for his continued thinking.His thinking seems to be invincible, but also seems to be frustrated everywhere.Judging from K’s experience, every time he takes an action, he finds that he is still in the network of Kramm’s thinking; Kramm’s experience should be that every time he wants to reason, he must rely on K’s actions, otherwise he will be unable to move forward.The strange footprints on the snow are actually caused by the joint force of two people.Those concepts have been stored in the old fox's mind for so long, and they are only now brought into play. From the eyes of secular people, of course, they are as weird as they are, and as obscure as they are. It can be said that there is nothing he has not yet learned. Thought-of.On the other hand, it can be said that Klamm’s thinking is pure, his way of thinking is “not thinking”, and everything is left to the play of K’s life instinct.Now that everything is in the mind, if you want to think about what it does, you just need to obey the movements of the person's body. Every movement of the body will bring out a complex pattern; all deliberate reasoning is useless. Just wait.So no one could see the expression on the master's face, because he had no expression, he was waiting quietly, waiting for K to make those movements, he knew that K would definitely make some movements, and he was as familiar with K's body as he knew himself.The complexity and simplicity of Kram are both products of history. Time washes away all the silt that covered it, revealing the essential things. The sharp opposition really makes it difficult for the eyes to stay on for a long time.People don't understand why the essence is what it is, and they can't predict what miserable shape it will develop into.The only thing that people can take comfort in is that it is still developing, and the development itself proves that it will not perish.

Why did Kramm keep K in the dark?This is primarily determined by K's nature. It is not that K lacks the ability of reasoning, it is better to say that his ability is very outstanding, but he is destined to be a man of action.In him, intuition and instinct are clearly overwhelming, and everything else must rely on the power of intuition.To live by instinct meant to live in the dark, but not completely in the dark, for Klamm was there to hint at it now and then.This half-conscious and half-conscious way is the most suitable way for K, and the pain caused by it is also real pain.If K, like the rest of the villagers, had figured everything out, his pursuit would have lost its drive, its brute force, and his rich emotional color would have paled.He is not a Christian by nature, and he is too interested in secular mysteries, thinking about everything is painful; he has the ability of philosophical speculation, but he has no intention to use it, and other things attract him far beyond the charm of logic he found the stage with the help of Klamm, which was his alone, and Klamm was always behind the scenes because of his limited mobility.Ah, that blend of blindness and self-awareness that delights him, nothing that reveals his soul more than this.From Klamm's point of view, his arrangement of K was deliberate and natural.Klamm has seen through everything, his old thoughts can no longer bring him passion, if there is no miracle, he will die, his huge head is full of discarded thoughts and dies indifferently.He had long since grown weary of his own too-clear reasoning, and he needed the experience of life, which had receded from him.At this critical moment, K, who came from afar, broke into his castle territory in a hurry.The old fox's eyes lit up immediately, he saw everything about this stranger. K's vitality is just what he needs, and the old fox wants to activate his dead thoughts by sucking blood.Why couldn't he explain his intentions to K?Because the premise of "living" is kept in the dark (intentionally or unintentionally), he knows the benefits of not letting K know the details. He is an old fox who only plans for himself.It was seeing K that Klamm’s pain woke up from his numbness; the passion born of the pain changed Kram’s entire life, and he glowed with vitality that he had never had before, and his thoughts were no longer empty forms. Human performances enrich them with rich and colorful content. Klamm's pain is eternal, and this eternal pain is the infinite hope of mankind.The situation of life is unsightly, but no one can deprive the right of life, just as the right of pain cannot be deprived.The artist K who was chosen by the father of thinking to do experiments, his wonderful performance shows the tragedy of life pain to the extreme; his performance will always remain in the deepest part of people's memory, and become the motivation for people to survive again. April 22, 1998, Yingcai Garden