OPM 79 read on a breezy and sunny afternoon. This meditation continues the exploration of the Heraclitus story, of his being visited by some strangers who seek his 'wisdom, but, instead, encounter him in the mundane situation of warming his hands by the fire in his house. For the past few days I have been emphasizing the comportment of Heraclitus' openness that welcomes the strangers, which is, in fact, something that I would describe as a 'hidden' or concealed openness, for the visitors don't immediately recognize the invitation that is being offered to them by the apparently mundane and ordinary Heraclitus. This is the force of the truth of concealment that I wrote about in the meditations that focus on Plato's allegory of the cave. Here the matter is a bit more nuanced and subtle, which is the way it should be with Heraclitus who is known for the enigmatic quality of his writing and thinking.
In terms of the highlight, this is probably the quotation that concludes OPM 79, one from Heidegger that has been offered much earlier in the project, but here returns to amplify what I am calling the force of the truth of concealment as the preparation for thinking/learning. Heidegger: "To free oneself for a binding directedness is possible only by being free for what opened up in the open region. Such being free points to the heretofore uncomprehended essence of freedom. The openness of comportment as the inner condition of the possibility of correctness is grounded in freedom. The essence of truth is freedom."
The last part of the quotation has been an important fragment for this project. Now placed within a larger context, where we encounter the emphasis on preparedness happen via a freeing of oneself for freedom, the freedom offered in the in the open region, where learning/thinking happens. As I emphasize in my commentary the visitors were in fact ready for learning but were not fully aware of their readiness, and this seems to be the strange unwilled willing of a freedom that readies for freedom. It would have to be like this if we are describing and event that does not unfold from the now deconstructed strong subject, or what I call the juridical subject. In sum, the force of the truth of concealment moves in a concealed or hidden way. Hence why the figure of Heraclitus helps us to understand it!
February 13, 2014 was the 10th anniversary of the original experiment that produced 363 phenomenological mediations, published as 'Being and Learning' (Brill: 2012). Each day between Feb 2014-15, I returned to the original meditations, and my commentary is documented here. And then, again, on February 15, 2024, on the 20th anniversary of the first days of the original experiment, I revisit and comment on a daily basis, once again.
3.0 - "The essence of truth is freedom." This is easily one of my favorite quotes from Heidegger. Such a pregnant fragment, loaded with history, meaning, the voices of countless philosophers, theologians, artists, etc. "Essence," "truth," and "freedom." Like Jimi's Band of Gypsys! I will write this on the board this morning and make it the focus of our attention in class, organizing the seminars that will take up Arendt, Foucault and Nietzsche! Talk about a power trio!! There really is something about the power of three, the triad, the triangle, the trinity, the dialectic! Thinking back to the story of Heraclitus, which is the focus of OPM 79, the triad appears in the relationship of Heraclitus, gods, and home, with the latter being the mediating place or location. I'm recalling Homi Bhabha's essay on the "third space," which I used to teach over 20 years ago. The third space denotes "place"the gathering location, or open region (to use the Heideggerian term that appears so often in this project). Third space denotes place. Place is the third, the synthetic moment in the dialectic. "The essence of truth is freedom." Freedom denotes the third, the location where the essential (what is significant) appears most. "Most" - exceedingly, repeatedly, habitually, regularly, commonly. In this sense "truth" denotes the habitual as in what occurs most often or regularly, but also the location: dwelling, habitat. "Freedom" is the habitat of truth. "Habitat" - the natural domain, terrain, abode. Of course this begs the question: what do we mean by "truth" apart from its natural habitat? I mean "true" or "authentic" and more or less ignore the cynical Adorno's critique of authenticity. And, anyway, I'm less concerned about the existential implications. I'm guided by Benjamin's "aura" of authenticity, and perhaps some version of the phenomenological "thing itself," which for me denotes what Kant insisted we could never know. Perhaps we can't because there always remains something hidden, preserved, mysterious, like the hidden presence of the gods. Yet, Heraclitus indicates they too "are present." So the hidden mystery is present. But the perception of the truth as what is most significant can be said to be hidden because it remains a mystery to reason, beyond knowledge. And yet that which is beyond "knowledge" remains otherwise accessible through feeling, the power of intuition. The authentic, the real and the true can be perceived experientially despite it being ineffable. The gods are present!
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