The Sixth Circle: Heresy (Cantos XXI-XXIII)

O soul
Justly disdainful! blest was she in whom
Thou was conceiv'd! He in the world was one
For arrogance noted; to his memory
No virtue lends its lustre; even so
Here is his shadow furious. There above
How many now hold themselves mighty kings
Who here like swine shall wallow in the mire,
Leaving behind them horrible dispraise!

Canto XXI

"Um die Phänomene selbst!"

Edmund Husserl

If there is a truth, as an opening of being, then it can only be considered as truth if it comes to us, and speaks with its own tongue. Knowing full well the subjective affects of the human psyche, we must distrust anything in the other which resonates with our expectations, hopes, or fears, for all such psychical meanings are in all likelihood the result of projection.

Rather, we must go to the things themselves, reserve our inclusion in reality, and look only to what the thing says of itself, that we may come to grasp the truth of its being. But so too, if there is truth in the opening of being, then that truth would have to present itself identically to all, and must feasibly lie within the realm of comprehension of anyone. The truth, as truth, presents itself to all equally, and we each have a claim to it. As such, the truth needs no advocate. That which is true, if true at all, must hold regardless of perspective or pathos.

It is for this reason that I felt justified in attempting an authorship of Division Three of Being and Time, even so far as to publish it under Heidegger's name, with my own hidden away as the fictitious translator and editor. The truths of being and time attest to themselves, and the existential dialectics which we can undergo in order to better approach a firm understanding of the ground of being are in principle accessible directly from the human intellect. Although at times a guide is useful, we do not inherently require a medium by which to approach the truth, for the truth is always present, and dwells within us all. The only antagonist is the self, and the distortions manifested from self-obsession.

Living in contradiction to the ego and its self is the deeper and more essential spirit of humankind. That little piece of us is tethered to the being of truth, and so too holds the whole of every wisdom that has ever passed across our earth. This spirit is a gem, buried deep within the sediment and dirt of our selfish existences. As hidden, it must be sought, and so too unearthed by the heroic and questing human. Once this treasure within is discovered, it is the task of our lives to tend to its care. Depending on our choices, this gem may either lie neglected, cracked and dusty, or bring forth a deep polish, which cuts past the trivial appearances of life with the singular light of truth.

It is to this gem which I have dedicated my life. I may not have many material possessions, but neither do I wish for many. I may not hold the station in life of some, but neither do I garner my sense of worth from my time and its confused values. Early in life, I clearly saw that I would have to make a choice as to what would be most important to me, to what I could dedicate myself, and whither my life would trend. I chose the path of self-knowledge and rarely have I faltered.

Canto XXII

"We never come to thoughts. They come to us."

Heidegger, The Thinker as Poet

It seems as though Heidegger has always something to say, but wishes first to pave the way. One gets the impression that he keeps stopping short of saying just what he means to. And once he feels the way has been properly paved, he climaxes with a youthful exuberance borne of impatience. Desperate to finally say the very point he began writing to say, he explodes with a single gesture of "enough!".

His formalism is his strength and his burden, and is precisely why Being and Time remains incomplete. Systems are not built from the ground up, no matter the how rigorous the methodology employed. Implicit in the form of a systemic treatise is the dubious claim that the whole is constructed from an inevitable string of logic trending toward a compelling and clear conclusion. But this pretense of form is without corollary in reality. Whatever the strange path our minds take from ignorance to insight, we certainly cannot claim it to be logical or linear. Therefore, any presentation of our insights which obfuscates the path by which we came to them is inherently misleading, and threatens to undermine the their usefulness by getting bogged down in dogmatism.

I will surely never write this imagining of Division Three. Fascinatingly, I both praise and denigrate Heidegger's formalism in these early notes. The implicit absolutist claim of systematic philosophy resonates still with my sense of nostalgia, even while my fetish for postmodern disconnection has sprung and blossomed.

I am in all likelihood nobody. But this damned part of me does and did believe it could rightly interpret the intention of one of the greats of twentieth century philosophy in a new and bold direction. This essential and driving arrogance dwells still within me, and motivates just about all of my overreaching aspirations.

Canto XXIII

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate."

William of Ockham

A small man is always at peace, even in the most dire of conflicts. A good man is always in conflict. He vindicates himself through the awareness of essential dichotomies, and the preferential devotion to his better nature, while holding constant vigil against transgression.

But a great man comes back to that peace and earns his right to it perpetually. He too is aware of the essential and manifold dichotomies, and so is borne of cognizance of that perpetual conflict. But nevertheless, he always strives for, and even often achieves, the practical transcendence of the dichotomies which bind him, even those between conflict and peace. He knows there are infinite, equally essential dichotomies, and so too many still which his awareness has not yet surpassed or encountered. In his transcendence of the two, the opposition is not obliterated and succeeded by a unity. Never does the great man devalue the two for the sake of the one, denying duality as mere illusion. Instead, he maintains and strives always to a four-ness in all things.

The transcendental path which leads us out of the tumult of endless presentations of oppositions in life is fourfold: this, that, both and neither. This fourfold presentation of being, when apprehended in succession, is revealed to be the total movement of a singular essence. As this, that, both and neither, the fourfold dialectical approach allows us to reach past the deception of appearances, and toward a transcendent understanding of the underlying singularity of all being.

Always does the perspective of the great man flow from one of the four through to the other three. Grasping all freely and at will, without personal attachment, he escapes the confines of his own subjectivity and is released to commune with pure being.

I strive to be such a man. As Socrates taught, to know the good is to do the good. I cannot help but act upon my own insights. But, as these insights are vast and far reaching, I will in all probability never be satisfied as to the reach of my intellectual grasp. Nevertheless, I strive onward.