When the internet became accessible to the public, that is, in the mid-1990s, there was the phenomenon of people putting their deepest secrets on the internet. Anonymity, simplicity and speed were seductive. The confession quickly made, anonymity largely preserved, and perhaps there was even this little thrill that someone one knows might read the secrets without knowing who was behind them. These tele-confessions were cathartic. Today this has reversed: Everyone should see what one does without finding out what one…
Today I heard a quotation from Sri Aurobindo. He said, in essence, that each of us has several I’s. That was clear to me. For decades, my experience has been that the different aspects of a personality are many, and that the idea of a subjective identity is a construction. I always regarded the principles of construction as ideological, serving the logic of passports, individual responsibility, and the administration of justice, but also of guilt and atonement, the idea of…
Approaching great themes with short texts—is that possible? The Mediterranean region is the birthplace of monotheism—Judaism, Christianity, Islam. India is the birthplace of Hinduism. Countless gods are conceived here, or else the absence of God, or the universality of the Divine, depending on which of the numerous strands one follows. Two principles are visible here, however: the maxim of individuality, which continues even beyond death, and the thought of being part of something much greater, within which individuality must be…
I grew up in the country where cars were invented. The roads and cars here seem safe; in any case, everything is done to make them safe. The accident is anticipated, the risk calculated, possible collisions computed, and the damage minimized through modular construction, so we are told. We want to be prepared for everything, here. It is this logic of securing, calculating risk, and prevention that makes me want to leave this country again. There is no room for…
Mnemosyne Atlas This is a personal blog. Yet at the same time it is also about a transformation of consciousness. Consciousness does not exist singularly within human beings. It exists only in connection with other consciousness. Consciousness is communicative. A journey into consciousness is therefore always more than just a personal journey. It is a manifestation. In 2016, I traveled to India. I wanted to read Gilles Deleuze there. I had an inkling that this would open up a new…
