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Is the face the surface of the self? If there is a self, where is it?
I don’t know which came first here, the chicken or the egg. Either the word surface comes from the anatomical use of the word face or the anatomical use of face comes from surface, in the sense of “outermost boundary of an object.” However, we ought to wonder, since it is the outermost boundary of an object, what is the object that our faces are the outermost boundary of? This paragraph is going to be a bit silly and pedantic but please bear with me because the pedantry will be worth it. I think quibbling about whether I’m applying the wrong definition of “face” to the anatomical feature is the…
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Suerte: sort/kind/type
This is the other suerte. Spanish speakers of a certain level are likely familiar with the word "suerte," which one says when describing the alignment of circumstances in a favorable way for whomever he is ascribing the "suerte" to. You know, luck. It is used in the same way a speaker of British English might use "lot," ...
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A quick tip on meditating
Positivity of the kind used in meditation and perhaps Indian philosophy¹ is not just a pragmatic psychology but is grounded in a very powerful ontological position. I will briefly describe that position before sharing a tip on meditating. That position, nearly espoused by Hegel, and at times by Spinoza, is that only positive assertions can be true. More precisely “some things exist,” or “some sentences are true.” That is, more or less, a solution to the problem of nonexistence–for the most part, a problem that arises when we wonder what nonexistence is, what it is “not to be,” what existed before the universe if anything, or even theories of ontological…
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Irrisorio: Laughable
"...what inspired me to write this post was the following rarity."
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Encimar: to stack
I stacked the books on top of one another. / Encimé los libros uno sobre otro. Encima means on top (of). And Encimar means to stack, or place on top of. Isn’t that a tidy bit of language?
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Hegel on free will and property, as told through translation notes
If you’re listening to that sentence, depending on which of the transcriptions I’ve italicized is correct, Hegel could be saying very different things about free will and what one does with it, or what it might do on its own...
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Translation of Gotan
I can make out the blink of the lights that, from afar, guide my return.
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Hegel on free will and property, as told through translation notes
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A chunk of words about rocks and rocky edges
Barranca: ravine or hillside. Peña: crag. Peñasco: big crag. Cantil: ridge; ledge; shelfAcantilado: bluffEscarpa: escarpment, slopePrecipicio: cliff/precipice
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Aquellos: one of those
Fue una de aquellas noches en las que, a pesar de que nada te previene de dormir, para nada no podés hacerlo. / It was one of those nights in which, despite the fact that nothing prevents you from sleeping, you just can’t seem to do it. A veces me encuentro con aquel pensador que no te permite ninguna premisa de tal modo que la conversación ni tiene un punto de partida. / Sometimes I find myself with one of those thinkers that doesn’t allow any premise, to such an extent that the conversation doesn’t even have a starting point. Once again, this is one of those words that the…
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El prólogo: escribir sin conclusión
Esto se alienta por el prólogo de Doce Cuentos Peregrinos de García Márquez. Acuerdo con ése en la medida en que pinta el escribir casi como una aflicción. Es una búsqueda sin fin. Cada esbozo conlleva la frustración de que ése tampoco me alcanzó representar la idea del cerebro. Fue por aquel sentimiento de frustración y sin-finitud que me dejé de escribir hace un par de años. Sin conclusión concreta, ¿apenas hay un propósito? Dejarlo de lado realmente me facilitó la vida. Me salvó del dolor de tratar de explicar los sentimientos sin poder, el mismo dolor por el que gritan los bebés antes de expresarse articulados; cuando gritan, no…
