love. week thirty three.
date. 2021
city. new york city
July 20​
The Metropolitan Museum Art, Gallery 601
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Part I
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Love is almost beautiful
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There is a love which is crushing. Ecstatic. Suffocating. Orgasmic. Devotional. Passionate. Annihilating. Transcendent.
And there is a love which is joyful. Abundant. Charitable. Full. Living. Tranquil. Caring. Imminent.
They are not opposed to each other. They operate across different axes.
One: the mundane <> the holy
The other: protect <> grow
But both:
differentiation <> identification
Particular <> universal
The first identifies by escaping the self. The other identifies by bringing everything into the self.
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However, this all operates on the level of the I, of the self (and the other, the non-self).
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Part II
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It is possible to recognize the existence of other 'I's, of other selves.
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In this case, it's not enough to distinguish between I <> World, but a further distinction must be added: I <> You <> World
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Once I recognize that you are a You, and that for you, you are an I; then I must also recognize that for you, I (for you) am not an I, but a part of the World. Or, if I'm very very lucky, I can be your You.
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In which case, me and you can both be 'I's to ourselves and 'You's to each other. Perhaps we can call this We.
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The We is once again another I (opposed to the World and other 'Wes'); And the process repeats.
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In conclusion, I can behave, naively, as myself (in which case, I am surrounded with the World and/or You), or I can behave as your World, or your You. And, if we can both recognize each other's existence, we can become a We; i.e. a more expanded I.
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Part III
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Love has two opposites: hatred and fear
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When I fear you, I retreat from you into myself.
When I hate you, I impose myself onto you.
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In either case, you and I cannot be friends. We are enemies. We can never exist together.
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I have two opposites: you and we
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In love, the opposite of I is We
In fear/hate, the opposite of I is You
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In love, I and We do not destroy each other. They strengthen each other.
In fear/hate, I and You must destroy each other. They weaken each other.
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Even opposites have opposites.
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"Evil resides in the very gaze which perceives Evil all around itself.”
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- Hegel