New Spirits – Reading Deleuze in India
Consciousness exists only in connection with other consciousness
Posts on consciousness, thought, immanence, representation, and philosophical transformation in the Reading Deleuze in India project.
For some time I have been waiting. Actually, I like waiting. Waiting is a space and a time in which there is nothing else to do but wait for time to pass. Usually, you cannot do much else except read or talk, or think. Waiting times are therefore always free spaces for me. I especially like waiting in citizens’ service centers, for example; here, all people are equal. Together with others, I am in a space where there is nothing…
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I live in a hypercomplex society. I notice this already in political and social issues, which nobody can really grasp in their complexity anymore. We can hold on to principles, such as justice, equality, freedom, consideration, sustainability, etc. But in concrete terms, things already become difficult. In a conflict, should I take one side or the other, or is there a third possibility? Which of my own ways of acting should I change, and how radically should I do so,…
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During meditation, I often watch my thinking, let thoughts come and go, and try to slow the thinking down. Thoughts come and go, and often I do not understand where they come from, and why at some point they are replaced by an entirely different thought. What chain of association is at work here? These chains of thought seem to be random, prompted by experiences that still resonate and are being processed further. This reminds me of a philosophical thought.…
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I have always had a gut unease about an atomistic worldview. At school we learn that the smallest building blocks of the universe are atoms. Now physics has moved on; we speak of protons, electrons, positrons, quarks and strings, etc.… But at its core, the idea remains the same: the world is composed of the smallest parts of matter. This is such a widespread idea that few people doubt it, that is, doubt the exclusivity of this worldview. I expressly…
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Black holes pose riddles for us. I am not a cosmologist and engage with black holes through popular science, with a philosophical interest. They mark a limit of our imagination. Gravitational force influences space and time, science says. Concentrated at one point, it compresses matter into its pure substance, squeezes atomic nuclei and electrons together into a mass (atoms consist largely of emptiness, after all). With its incredible gravitational force, this mass draws everything in and bends and distorts space…
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In Plato’s allegory of the cave, people sit before a wall on which the shadows of the real objects of the world can be seen. Since they have seen only shadows throughout their lives, they think these are reality. The philosopher’s task is to explain to people that they should turn around to see how the apparatus of light, which serves as a projection mechanism, produces an illusion. Once people had recognized this, they would free themselves from the chains…
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The forest is a wonderful habitat. Recently I heard a little story about a man who whistled a melody whenever he entered the forest. After a while, the animals recognized him by it and accepted his presence. They no longer ran away, sometimes even greeted him. Most of the time we do not see the forest as it is at all, because we often disturb it. Today I was in the forest. Instead of going for a walk as usual,…
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It was a feat of strength. Clearing out the apartment, moving with friends, putting things into storage, reorienting myself before a new chapter begins. Leaving the familiar, breaking the status quo, doing what is important and right without making compromises. But that also means suffering and inflicting wounds, breaking things and planting something new. Strange only that some friends are going through something similar. After Covid, the world is different. We no longer want to live as we did before.…
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