"The reeling whirl I seek"

What wonders could the world reveal?
You must renounce! You ought to yield!
That is the never-ending drone
Which we must, our life long, hear,
Which, hoarsely, all our hours intone
And grind into our weary ears.
--Faust, Kaufmann 175

cf. speech beginning "As in that terrifying reeling..."
--Faust, Kaufmann 177

If ever I recline, calmed, on a bed of sloth,
You may destroy me then and there.
--Faust, Kaufmann 183

That all my striving I unloose
Is the whole purpose the pact.
...
And let enjoyment, distress,
Annoyance and success
Succeed each other as best they can,
For restless activity proves a man.
--Faust, Kaufmann 187

Do you not hear, I have no thought of joy!
The reeling whirl I seek, the most painful excess,
Enamored hate and quickening distress.
Cured from the craving to know all, my mind
Shall not henceforth be closed to any pain,
And what is portioned out to all mankind,
I shall enjoy deep in myself, contain
Within my spirit summit and abyss,
Pile on my breast their agony and bliss,
And thus let my own self grow into theirs, unfettered,
Till as they are, at last I, too, am shattered.
--Faust, Kaufmann 188

Faust's frustration is innately human. He feels as though two souls are inside him: one crying for sloth or alternately (and more expansively) against provincial contentment, as in his speech "As in that terrifying reeling..." (177). The other strives, seeks something: I think the last two quotations I posted flesh out what he's striving for. What I think Faust wants is to live a truly human life; this in a very specific sense. He wants restless activity, but not Hedonism; freedom from his striving, but not sloth. The last speech is especially revealing: he feels, deeply, the provinciality of his life, that is, the inability of one person to experience all, understand all, &c. His answer is "the reeling whirl," the "restless activity which proves a [hu]man."

From what I can gather (though I may be mistaken), the revolutionary work of Hume, and (moreso) Kant seriously thickened the philosophic atmosphere of the day. Their work 'burnt down the libraries,' as it were, and I think the pathos of Faust is what hung in the air afterwards. The notion that the sensible world is somehow discovered by means of our minds lends incredible meaning to idea of humanity. Hume and Kant had an attitude of humility, e.g., one should not pretend to know any but the most certain concepts. But I think a result of their work is a sense that a person should be able to surpass those bounds, to know it all, and in Faust's case I think, to experience it all. How much of Faust's struggle stems purely from his humanity? How much stems from the philosophic conflagration of the day? If any, how much remains today?