If now life—as a cosmic, generic, singular phenomenon—is such a continuous stream, there is good reason for its profound opposition against form. This opposition appears as the unceasing, usually unnoticed (but also often revolutionary) battle of ongoing life against the historical pattern and formal unflexibility of any given cultural content, thereby becoming the innermost impulse toward culture change.

XREF: Connects to Simmel's broader philosophy of life and form conflict, resonating with vitalist thought from Bergson and later process philosophers.

XREF: This echoes later theorizing about cultural dynamism versus institutional rigidity, and connects to broader discussions of how creative forces resist fixed structures.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 820