Subversion
How may I translate the German notion „in sich gehen“? To get into one`s own self?
Leo.org offers “to engage in serious soul-searching” in English for “in sich gehen”;
or “intégrer qc. in” as a French translation.
Is there no proper term to express this approach of the self to itself?
A German edition of a yahoo service manages to use the expression in an English text. It reads: “Sometimes I go into myself, my own world if you like. Is this normal or am I starting to go mental? My girlfriend suggests that I might be a bit mental. I don’t think I am, I just go into myself from time to time. It mainly happens when I’m trying to figure something out, it’s like a really intense consentration where all I can see is the thing I’m thinking about. Maybe I’m just training to be a genius?!”
The notion “in sich gehen” is essential for understanding “subversion”. It seemsthat “in sich gehen” is a key to discuss a subversion for which mathematics and instruments are necessary, the compass for example or the Turing Machine:
“In sich zu gehen heist, sich der Subversion bewusst zu werden”.*
This is a sentence of French philosopher and poet Edmond Jabès, which has been translated into German. I wonder how the French original or the English translations reads.
*Jabès, Edmond: Das kleine unverdächtige Buch der Subversion. [Paris 1982] München: Hanser, 1985, S.13.