OPM 121 marks the conclusion of the first third of the 363 days of consecutive daily writing. Appropriately it focuses on the ineffable, which has been the highlight of many of the meditations. Going back to March, no fewer that 15 of these commemorative blog posts have included some commentary on the ineffable. To say it is a dynamic concept in these meditations is to grossly underestimate its importance, especially because the terms is so equivocal, generally denoting the phenomenon that fall under the Nothing, the ontological location that is 'other' to what science takes up. The question that is first and foremost to this project was borrowed from Heidegger's essay What is Metaphysics?, the question he raised to his analytic minded science colleagues: How is it with the nothing? In turn, when I use the term 'ineffable' I use it as a way of naming what is signaled by the 'nothing' in Heidegger's question. But as the writing increasingly took on a geographic emphasis, and the phenomenology resonated with cartography, the 'ineffable' stood for the spatiality of the location where the learning community gathered. And in this sense it operated on two levels: as the necessary space that allows for the gathering (the dwelling together as a plurality in unity), and as the necessary silence that allows for the movement of language (the dialogic exchange through which the learning of the learning community happens). And in this sense, the ineffable is disclosed or brought into being by listening.
OPM 121 picks up where OPM 120 concluded: "Learners abide together, enjoined by the ineffable, the gap that is the openness which simultaneously joins them together and separates them. The ineffable is thus the condition for the actuality of the intersubjective dialogic gathering of learning." OPM 121 takes this last sentence of OPM 120 and teases out the phenomenological implications: the learning community is gathered together in the 'letting be' of plurality, the letting be of the many, the allowing of each being to be. Only openness toward all beings can sustain this, and such openness is always a receptive modality, or 'listening'. Letting-be is also the way that freedom is appears, as the freedom-from judgment. To let-be is to silence the juridical voice, and to take up the phenomenological attitude. OPM 121: "Thus, we say the ineffable appears with the learning community because this community emerges as the gathering together of those who remain steadfast in the freedom of letting-be, released in the openness toward the other as other that makes its appearance as the path of silence." Here the ineffable stands for ontological and ontic (specifically the practice that of meditative thinking), the open and openness, the open region where the learning community is gathered, an the opening through which the learning community moves, or what in OPM I call "a philosophic community, a community gathered in the practice of meditative thinking."
OPM 121 picks up where OPM 120 concluded: "Learners abide together, enjoined by the ineffable, the gap that is the openness which simultaneously joins them together and separates them. The ineffable is thus the condition for the actuality of the intersubjective dialogic gathering of learning." OPM 121 takes this last sentence of OPM 120 and teases out the phenomenological implications: the learning community is gathered together in the 'letting be' of plurality, the letting be of the many, the allowing of each being to be. Only openness toward all beings can sustain this, and such openness is always a receptive modality, or 'listening'. Letting-be is also the way that freedom is appears, as the freedom-from judgment. To let-be is to silence the juridical voice, and to take up the phenomenological attitude. OPM 121: "Thus, we say the ineffable appears with the learning community because this community emerges as the gathering together of those who remain steadfast in the freedom of letting-be, released in the openness toward the other as other that makes its appearance as the path of silence." Here the ineffable stands for ontological and ontic (specifically the practice that of meditative thinking), the open and openness, the open region where the learning community is gathered, an the opening through which the learning community moves, or what in OPM I call "a philosophic community, a community gathered in the practice of meditative thinking."
3.0 - I love seeing that Summit lacrosse t-shirt! The image is connected to the photo that Jaime used for his 8th graduation slide that appeared on the big screen in the gym before the commencement ceremony got underway. Most of the students posted photos of themselves when the were much younger or a photo of themselves revealing their funky or cool side. Jaime posted one of him on the field, long pole in hand, ready to engage the ball carrier. My heart was filled with so much pride when that photo appeared on the big screen. The "S" of Summit lacrosse on the back of his helmet connecting him to the family history. That he finds so much confidence in playing lacrosse is, along with the large group of friends he has, the most gratifying result of his middle school experience. Self-confidence and friendship!
ReplyDeleteIn response to OPM 121, which concludes the first third of the year of daily writing, I connect the sabbatical book writing I have just completed. This morning I reminded myself that if writing first thing in the early morning is the best time to write, then I should probably start with the sabbatical writing, which should take precedence. The sabbatical writing this morning was focused on presenting Foucault's description of "spirituality" as the practice of transforming the self so that it is capable of encountering the truth. That conversion or turning about of the self happens as a result of the realization that the self does not have all the answers, and, in fact, has no answers at all. The "answers" to the proverbial and most significant question of all, What is the meaning of life?, are found in works of art, such as great books. Lacking answers is another way of describing the "ineffable." In this case "meaning" is "beyond the words" of the self. We are silent before that most significant question. Hence we must learn by listening to the voice of the other, specifically, the voice of the book. The teacher turns us around to the work of art. And the book offers us answers to that most significant question. The work of art says, "I am the meaning of life." Or, "life is meaningful because I exist." Or, "my existence is a revelation that there is meaning in life." The question then isn't What is the meaning of life?, but, and this is especially true in the nihilistic times we live in, Is there meaning in life? This question is raised sincerely by one who does not have the resources, yet, to respond. The responses happen when the student becomes an artist. Before that, however, they lack the words to say anything new. Before the student becomes a poet they must learn by listening to poetry. This is a form of the silenced juridical voice, which is described above.