On Friendship
"When friends live together, they enjoy each other's presence and provide each others good. When, however, they are asleep or separated geographically, they do not actively engage in their friendship, but they are still characterized by an attitude which could express itself in active friendship. For it is not friendship in the unqualified sense but only its activity that is interrupted by distance. But if the absence lasts for some time, it apparently also causes the friendship itself to be forgotten. Hence the saying, 'Out of sight, out of mind.'"
Aristotle
I suppose I should mention that I agree with Aristotle on this point. The "working" aspect of love and friendship is paramount in my conception. Kierkegaard has a book called The Work of Love and it is roughly about religious works of love directed to God. There has long been a debate in Christian theology of the primacy of "works" vs. "faith." Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, I think, come out of different sides of the debate, which is odd because they are both from a very similar religious framework. I am for the working side...perhaps we are ergon as Aristotle suggests (and this is caught by a lot of the Christian Existentialism for obvious reasons)...I have come to prioritize the tactile, present and moving-through side of our existence, if somebody loves me as an Idea, well, that is a very lovely gesture but my Idea often forgets to touch me from time to time and the real being that I am is forever distanced from the loving.
"When friends live together, they enjoy each other's presence and provide each others good. When, however, they are asleep or separated geographically, they do not actively engage in their friendship, but they are still characterized by an attitude which could express itself in active friendship. For it is not friendship in the unqualified sense but only its activity that is interrupted by distance. But if the absence lasts for some time, it apparently also causes the friendship itself to be forgotten. Hence the saying, 'Out of sight, out of mind.'"
Aristotle
I suppose I should mention that I agree with Aristotle on this point. The "working" aspect of love and friendship is paramount in my conception. Kierkegaard has a book called The Work of Love and it is roughly about religious works of love directed to God. There has long been a debate in Christian theology of the primacy of "works" vs. "faith." Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, I think, come out of different sides of the debate, which is odd because they are both from a very similar religious framework. I am for the working side...perhaps we are ergon as Aristotle suggests (and this is caught by a lot of the Christian Existentialism for obvious reasons)...I have come to prioritize the tactile, present and moving-through side of our existence, if somebody loves me as an Idea, well, that is a very lovely gesture but my Idea often forgets to touch me from time to time and the real being that I am is forever distanced from the loving.
posted by Lenin | 5:05 em
2 Comments:
hmm. sometimes im inclined to agree but at other times my schopenhauer/derrida side comes out and i doubt whether we have a tactile/present side at all. someone being "there" doesnt remove the fundamental absence and distance.
I sometimes doubt that we have anything but it...hence the anxiety of having your hands taken away, bound in some way...or the anxiety of having someone you care about away for a period of time.
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