i was convinced that sartre did actually have something valid to say when i read his short book "baudelaire" a few years ago. (nausea was effective when i was 17, but being and nothingness drives me partially mad) quoting baudelaire, sartre writes: "i had a sense of being destined to eternal solitude.” and then continues on with his own analysis: "baudelaire already thought of his isolation as a destiny. that meant he did not accept it passively. on the contrary, he embraced it with fury, shut himself up in it and, since he was condemned to it, hoped that at any rate his condemnation was final."
xarissa posted david foster wallace's brilliant (and i mean BRILLIANT) commencement speech at kenyon college on her blog. this document is so true, and hits at the very core of what it means to engage with our own solitude or isolation, like sartre explains. he states:
"Here is just one example of the total wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe; the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely think about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness because it's so socially repulsive. But it's pretty much the same for all of us. It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real."
do we, like baudelaire, become obsessed with the idea that it is us alone alone alone in all of this? that our view is the only one with validity? are we trapped in this notion of a self-centered destiny? i know how we all search after connection, true real connection with others. but that's not the point of either sartre or wallace's expositions. because even the most self-centered of individuals can be eternally searching for a real other to attach deep and close to their soul. the point is the way we view that individual, that other. the other we're trying to be connected to has an equally self-centered view as we do, it's our "default" setting like wallace explains. it takes concerted effort on our part to actually empathize with others, i mean truly empathize and seek for connection not only to fulfill our own need, but also to see that other person's actual perspective. if we can do that, then we'll realize that none of us are destined to isolated solitude. to not see the other as an object of use, but to see the other as a "you." like buber explains again and again, that ability to say "you" is something we must eternally strive for. it's not just a search for connection, it's a radical shift in viewpoint, and a shocking awareness of our own ego.
it's just like one of wallace's "banal platitudes" that holds such significant truth: "it's not all about you!" :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
LOVE this Julianne Parker! If we are isolated its because we throw ourselves into our own isolation. Remember that quote from Celine "the concept that we can only be complete with another person is evil right!" I think in a way she's totally right, we cannot expect 1 person to me our escape from loneliness, or to complete us. No person can complete us, our core has to be strong, we have to have self determined happiness - but additional joy and knowledge - knowledge that is imperative to live and redemption comes through interacting with all people.
How do I see others not even as "you" but as in the language of the Dagara tribe, as "my other self"
"baudelaire already thought of his isolation as a destiny. that meant he did not accept it passively. on the contrary, he embraced it with fury, shut himself up in it and, since he was condemned to it, hoped that at any rate his condemnation was final."
i have about ten billion things to say about this (as well as the passage you quote from wallace), making this comment box suddenly feel remarkably inadequate.
but really, that concept of seeing - the idea that though we can construe ourselves into a completely isolated reality, there is still that something that drives us to seek for connection... something that i would so like to discuss with you.
in others words, i suppose i'll get back to you on this.
Post a Comment