The fragment distilled from the writing made in OPM 142 concluded with: The true genius of the sage: he remains silent in the gathering of himself and the community.
And the fragment distilled from OPM 143 qualified this with the following: the silence of the sage is the recognition that he does not produce but only conveys the force that forms and cultivates.
OPM 144 continues the contemplation of the sage's silence as a practice of waiting that appears to be a preparation for the event of gathering. Silence and waiting are virtually synonymous in the sense that 'silence' is not simply the absence of speaking, nor simply the practice of listening and hearing. Silence, as an existential modality, takes both of these forms: non-speaking, listening and hearing. But it is also the modality of anticipation, and thus we can link it to the intuitional perceptions that arise as hope and faith.
In OPM 140 I wrote of the blues as rooted in the songs of the fields that sang of another time, another place, and another self. These songs (spirituals), which frame the beginning of each chapter of DuBois' Souls of Black Folk, and are also the subject of the final chapter of the book, arise from this anticipatory modality of waiting. As such, silence is not reducible to non-speaking, nor listening and hearing. When silence appears as waiting it is an intentional restraint about the past and present, a kind of transcendence toward a future via poiein (poetic making aka music, song). And this is precisely why I described the making of the blues as happening through a retreat or detachment, and linked it to the what the Stoics call apatheia. Waiting is the silence of a reticence about the obvious oppression by those who suffer it. Here we see the blues as a kind of Passion play without reducing it a la liberation theology of the suffering Christ on the via dolorosa. But the cultural connection is undeniable and worth exploring, especially when we follow DuBois' example and make a close reading of the spirituals.
In OPM 140 I wrote of the blues as rooted in the songs of the fields that sang of another time, another place, and another self. These songs (spirituals), which frame the beginning of each chapter of DuBois' Souls of Black Folk, and are also the subject of the final chapter of the book, arise from this anticipatory modality of waiting. As such, silence is not reducible to non-speaking, nor listening and hearing. When silence appears as waiting it is an intentional restraint about the past and present, a kind of transcendence toward a future via poiein (poetic making aka music, song). And this is precisely why I described the making of the blues as happening through a retreat or detachment, and linked it to the what the Stoics call apatheia. Waiting is the silence of a reticence about the obvious oppression by those who suffer it. Here we see the blues as a kind of Passion play without reducing it a la liberation theology of the suffering Christ on the via dolorosa. But the cultural connection is undeniable and worth exploring, especially when we follow DuBois' example and make a close reading of the spirituals.
In sum, the sage is a kind of prophetic figure, which is one of the reasons the writing experiment takes a long sojourn with Nietzsche's Zarathustra [this is forthcoming!]. The sage is prophetic in the sense of expressing a vision of the future that breaks with the past and present. Prophetic in the sense of articulating an emancipatory discourse. Of course, as an emancipatory discourse it cannot totally relinquish the disclosure of oppression, but this is yet another modality. Indeed, if the sage offers critique it is as a lyrical form of dialectics, a poetic rendering of actually existing inequalities and the persistence of domination. Here is how the exemplar of Zarathustra's speech making come to mind. There are numerous other examples, e.g., the parables of Jesus. But these examples of lyrical dialectics are not examples of the silence of waiting, which is a full scale restraint vis-a-vis past and present oppression.
Waiting is anticipatory and thus OPM 144 speculates that Heidegger's event of appropriation (Ereignis) might be a way to describe it. This seems to work, especially if we are connecting waiting with gathering. Herbert Dreyfus translates Ereignis as "things coming into themselves by belonging together," and this seems to connote well the gathering of self and community happening with anticipatory waiting that occurs with retreat, restraint and reticence. 'Coming into' signals the arrival of an anticipated future, and 'coming into themselves' signals the gathering of self and community. In this sense, waiting is the gathering of the future self and community.
Here then is a fragment distilled from OPM 144:
If the sage is a teacher then he instructs through the silence that conveys the force that gathers the self and community into themselves. This silence teaches others to anticipate an imminent future that will break with the past and present. And this means that the students of the sage are those who desire such a break. When we desire an alternative we prepare for and anticipate it. Does this mean that we also make this alternative? No. If this were the case then the alternative would not present itself as something that arrives as different. Preparation and anticipation are the modalities of waiting for another self and another community, neither of which can be formed in-and-for-themselves.
3.0 (Monday, Portland, ME) - Anticipation and waiting. These modalities are not part of my current project. OPM 144 seems to ignore the earlier struggle I had with respect to the problem of preparation. When it's placed within the historical-cultural situation, then everything changes. Historical consciousness is the recognition that something has occurred, perhaps endured, and that the future remains open yet in part determined by those past events. But a critico-historical consciousness doesn't advocate anticipation so much as it demands resolution. It demands a break from the past, and a clean break would be preferable. There's a utopian sensibility to that consciousness, imagining a better world somewhere, out there, beyond. Anticipation doesn't account for this utopian sensibility. Waiting for another self and another community sounds vague and lacking impulse. If the utopian sensibility is propelled by manic energy, the sensibility of the sage is not unlike that of the stoic who is by design and practice unmoved, glacier like in his demeanor. Silence as a practice appears to me to be too passive, and the patience it requires too demanding. Yesterday I came to the realization that I am an impatient person. I've always recognized my self as impulsive, and not adverse to taking risks. But impatience wasn't a flaw I had recognize until I saw how impatient I've been with my kids, always expecting they are well beyond whatever stage they are in. Of course, I'm exaggerating to make a point. Yet, there is some truth in what I am saying. If anticipation is link to patience, and silence the modality of reception of what is, I have lived most of my life as a gregarious person too impatient to allow for the alternative to make its appearance. Impatience is the other side of a coin that is shared with expectation. Anticipation is hopeful form of waiting. Expectation is demanding, and because it is the modality of one who will not settle, it's an expression of being unsettled. Anticipation settles for what is until it is no longer. Expectation demands an alternative and goes about making it happen.
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