by Nica Go
Opportunities. Possibilities. Dreams. Aspirations. Success. Occupation etc. “Infinites”. We as finite beings, experience infiniteness every single day of our lives. When we think about it, the past has brought us the infinite, which we made finite because we’ve decided on things and we’ve chosen the path, which brought us here today. Our choices out of the infinite constantly make us finite; because then we are put in a set reality we have for ourselves, the reality that only the finite can achieve by making choices, by choosing to see something clearly and investing our time in it. The present is where we constantly choose these infinite things and the future is the tomorrow that promises us another set of infinite choices, beings and possibilities.
And though these other beings, as themselves, are finite, they will always be infinite outside our selves. We will never be able to fully grasp this concept, this idea, and this wholeness of another because we are not the other. We are not another finite infinite outside ourselves and therefore, we can only catch a glimpse of the entirety of something, someone.
So how extraordinary would it be for someone to find you an infinite that they would want to make a part of their reality because they’re interested in knowing how finite you are. How extraordinary would it be for someone to find how human you are? That out of all of the things and ideas and concepts that make you who you are, that make you distinct and that makes you so unreachable to other people, is exactly what’s drawing others in, in order to discover you. It is the curiosity within us that makes us long and desire to know the full-ness of someone, the full-ness of someone real and someone you will never be able to grasp.
Once you experience something, you realize that you haven’t experienced it enough. Once you know something, you realize that you don’t know it enough. I believe this is where the desire for the infinite of the other comes in. When we build relationships, when we know people and when we think that that’s all there is to someone, there’s still so much to know. So much future, that we and they, do not know, ahead of them… like how we have ours ahead of us. These countless tomorrows of endless unknowing is what keeps us infinite and the desire to know the other is the reality that grounds us to our being finite. To know that with our limitless possibilities for our selves comes our limited actuality to other things, to other beings and to other choices. This is why we desire for the infinite finite.
We know that there’s still so much to know about the other. But then there’s still so much to know about ourselves too. Which is why when we long to know the other, it is not just a want or a need, it’s a desire because why would we invest our time and effort to try to reach someone’s infinite through their finite when we’re still trying to discover our selves?
It is because the other’s infinite-ness attracts our finite. Just as how another finite being is attracted to our infinite self. This is how we also discover more of our finite self through different infinites. This is why we desire.
I like how you spoke about the experience of desire for the infinite that we don't find within ourselves. Recognition of the infinite in other people or in the mysteries outside of us can also remind us of our finitude, what we lack within ourselves and what we can't do or be. It's also good to be on the receiving end of desire, not necessarily erotic desire. This is something that can happen even in friendship or family ties--a person is able to spend time with another person over time because we can never fully know another person or grasp the infinity of who they are.
ReplyDelete- Veronica Jereza PH 102 C
The attraction between finites and infinites you brought up is quite agreeable. Each person is truly limited on their own and it is only through infinity in others that they can break through their limited capacity, -their finites. However one must note that not all infinities are always good. Too much focus on a certain "infinity" can twist the sincere "desire" one has into an ugly form. Obsessions and other unpleasant things can arise.
ReplyDeleteThis brings us to the sheer amount of Infinities that one is surrounded by; -even the infinity that the person his or herself possesses. As the word "infinite" implicates, there is a staggering amount of it any cannot be completely grasped. One must not be pigeonholed into simply focusing on a certain finite or infinite, chances are, it will only end up in stagnation. There is a giant unknown horizon out there, so one must go out and experience it.
- Jul Constantino PH102-C
What you've said is exactly our experience of the Other as Face. When we see other's Face, we may tend to have a perception to the other immediately by classifying them into a certain category. But we should know that they are always more than what we can think of them and what we can know of them. Because there are always something of them that are not disclosed to us. It is important to note that the relation of human beings is a kind of separation, as we are all living in our uniqueness as beings. In addition to what you've said, I believe that when we experience something, we still have a chance of perceiving the experience as an objective truth that exists on its own and has its own meaning. However, what Levinas says is that we should not have this kind of perception as it will lead us to think we can't do anything with our experience, that there's no subjectivity in the experience. Levinas's emphasis on the Other tells us that there's always something that we missed out when we knew something. We desire for the Infinite, for the good Infinite, because the truth will always lie in the Infinite and not in us, as we are only finite beings, and we are not God.
ReplyDeleteSection A
I like how you say that we desire the Other because there is that curiosity within us, that restlessness that we always keep wanting more, keep wanting to know more about the Other. This is precisely why they are ungraspable beings because we can never really fully know a person as they will forever be mysteries to us yet we keep trying to finitize them into our concepts because we keep trying to grasp the Other even if they are truly ungraspable. However, doing this defeats the purpose of the Other because we need to recognize that they are infinite beings, ungraspable, and are mysteries that we cannot always totalize to ourselves. This is what makes our relationships with people interesting as we are always surprised by this Other as there will always be another mystery to uncover.
ReplyDeleteFrenchi Baluyot PH 102 A
I agree that the infinite exists "Once you experience something, you realize that you haven’t experienced it enough. Once you know something, you realize that you don’t know it enough." I know this feeling all too well and probably even as my life is nearing its end I'd always wonder if there was something more I could've done. I just hope that I wouldn't belittle or overlook the things that I have achieved and the people whom I've met because of the choices I've made in life. i hope I never regret them and I die content. All the while knowing that out of the infinite possibilities, I chose the best set of finite possibility there is.
ReplyDeleteIn our Time Series class, we try to fit models using math theories that will describe different phenomena. A trend is approximated using a data set, and when a particular model is chosen to explain this trend, predictions are made. However, we always do not get a perfect model that completely describes a phenomena. There is always a measure of error.
ReplyDeleteI think this is analogous to the idea of the Infinite. Sometimes, we try to "model" people and try to describe them completely using the particularities that we see in them, and using these "data" that we have observed from them, we then say that we know this person completely and predict their actions. However, we have to remember that the Other is completely Other, that we cannot adequate and completely make the Other only an idea in our heads. We cannot simply say that we know them on the basis of we have observed, because we cannot really 100% explain the Other precisely because the experience of the Other is Infinite.
Carlo Nuñez
PH102 A
I’ve been searching for some decent stuff on the subject and haven't had any luck up until this point, You just got a new biggest fan!.. florarie florisis
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