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Cogito ergo carry?

I am what I carry?

I am what my trunk gets?

I am what I trunk?

Ich trage, also bin ich?

Bin ich, was ich trage?

Bin ich, was mein Rüssel mir zuträgt?

A Connection is expressed by the words I am thinking therefore I am. It connects “I” with “am”, It connects a certain self with a quality of being. I can connect with this sentence when I write: “I am thinking therefore I am being”. I can connect with this sentence by saying “I am thinking therefore I am being”. What about: “I am loving therefore I am being?” What about You? What about: “I am loving therefore I am”, this is a title of series of paintings by Abir Karmakar.

“And when all bodies meet,

In Lethe to be drowned,

Then only numbers sweet

With endless life are crowned”. (Herrick after Creeley)

Who will worship numbers and words after the extinction of mankind? Is there a possibility that numbers and words have an existence separated from mankind? By words – spoken and written words – gods and humans are binded together. When mankind is killed, nobody will be there to pay attention to the gods. Now, Herrick separates – delimites – numbers from their connection with mankind. This is another way of saying, that numbers and words are a delicate matter: This is another way of saying, that numbers and words demand attention. They have to be set up carefully. Because – as Herrick defines -, they may have a long existence: An existence which survives – like nuclear waste – those who set them into being. They have to be set up carefully, they have to be written and read carefully, because the existence of others, like the existence of gods or of future generations, depends on their setting. So words and numbers have a something in common with nuclear energy and nuclear waste. So words, numbers – as Herrick defines – demand our attention and our compassion.

Nils Röller at Sanskriti Kendra/New Delhi

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“There is a possibility in reading and writing, which knows words as in the world as much the same way that men are …” (Robert Creeley*)

How will the word “India”, how will the word “compass” perform in this blog on Art, Sex and Mathematics?

A blog which sets words like “India” and “compass” into a field of force generated by others words like “art”, “sex” and “mathematics.” The word “compass” gets another dimensions when reading Thich Nhat Hanh. The instrument becomes something that connects a mathematical and a emotional approach to the world. A world which philosophers like Kant and Descartes regard as an object, as something which is objecting the inner self, which is a barrier to the self, a barrier which the self hardly overcomes, but tries to overcome.

The compass is an instrument which indicates a way of dealing with this specific western problem. The word “India” invites to understand oneself as a needle. A needle which is displaying the tensional field of sensual experiences. The needle follows the movements of the field created by colors, vehicles and gentle speaking women, who prepare with dignity the soil for growing seeds.

The needle is not nothing. The needle needs to be set up carefully. It requires attention in order to perceive the connections of the needle with the field of experiences the word “India” and the many worlds it contains.

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In one short sentence Lorenz Oken, a 19th-century scientist, brings together two extremes, writing in his 1809 “Textbook of Natural Philosophy”:

“The eternal is the nothingness of nature.” (§ 44)

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Das lateinische Wort “interesse” bedeutet “Sein im Dazwischen”. Dieses Sein ist nicht entschieden. Es orientiert sich nicht an Zwecken, die es erreichen will. Es sieht die natürlichen Dinge nicht als Mittel zum Zweck der menschlichen Ernährung an, sondern als reine Mittel, als Mittel, die um ihrer selbst willen betrachtet und geschätzt werden. Das ist ein Impuls des “Lehrbuchs der Naturphilosophie”. Es ist auch ein Impuls der taoistischen Philosophie. So heisst es in der Abhandlung über die menschlichen Fähigkeiten von Liu Shao aus dem 3. Jahrhundert nach Chr.:

“Im Allgemeinen sind im menschlichen Charakter Ausgeglichenheit [als das Vermögen, sich ‘in der Mitte’ zu halten, zhong] und Harmonie am höchsten zu schätzen.“
So in der Mitte zu sein, so im Dazwischen zu sein, das fördert die Möglichkeit, “etwas sich ereignen zu lassen”. Dass sich etwas zwischen Mathematik, Kunst und Sex ereignet, das möchte das Journal darstellen. Das ist sein “Interesse”.

Literatur

Chen (Joseph) Cheng-Yih: “Cultural Diversities: Complementarity in Opposites“. In: Zielinski, S. und Fürlus, E. (eds.): Variantology 3. Cologne: Walther König, 2008

Butler, Judith: Das Unbehagen der Geschlechter – Gender Studies [Routledge 1990]. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1991

Jullien, François: Über das Fade – eine Eloge – Zu Denken und Ästhetik in China [Arles 1991]. Berlin: Merve, 1999

Needham, Joseph: Science and Civilisation in China Vol. IV (Physics and Physical Technology), Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962

Oken, Lorenz: Lehrbuch der Naturphilosophie. Zürich: Schulthess, 1843

Röller, Nils: “Thinking with Instruments: The Example of Kant`s Compass“. In: Zielinski, S. und Fürlus, E. (eds.): Variantology 3. Cologne: Walther König, 2008

In einem knappen Satz fasst Lorenz Oken, der Naturforscher des 19. Jahrhunderts, Extreme zusammen. Er schreibt 1809 in seinem “Lehrbuch der Naturphilosophie”:

“Das Ewige ist das Nichts der Natur.” (§ 44)

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vom Koitus zwischen Eisen und Magnet werde er sprechen und nicht von Anziehung, schreibt William Gilbert 1600 in seinem Buch “De Magnete”. Er wählt bewusst ein Wort, dass an einen sexuellen Akt denken lässt, wenn er vom Verhalten zwischen Magnet und Eisen spricht. Der Magnet sei ein Zeichen dafür, dass die Erde lebt. Denn “Mutter Erde” ist selbst ein Magnet. Sie besitzt eine Seele.  Mit wem  vereinigt  sie sich?