Ascension and non-presence
10
May
Reading this book by Byung-Chul Han, “Heidegger’s heart: on the concept
of affective tonality” is different from the author’s other “essays”, it reveals a first foray into the philosophical world, far from being a treatise, there are already connotations of an original thought.
In times so scarce of authentic thoughts, we are under the crossfire of the new and old Hegelian idealism, and the author demonstrates this not through historical critical analysis, but through what goes deeper into thinkers such as Kant, Hegel, Derridá and his master P .
I would say that the apex, according to my reading bias, is in Lévinas’ analysis, when quoting him on page 68: “The ‘imaginary destruction of all things’, Lévinas’ Epoché, is not followed by a total absence of being ” … “against all formal logical imperatives” (pg. 68), which is reminiscent of Barsarab Nicolescu’s third inclusion, in allusion to quantum physics, is a new logical threshold.
And he continues “There is no longer this or that; there is no such thing as anything. But universal absence is, in turn, a presence, an absolutely inevitable presence” (pg. 69 quoting Lévinas again: “The existence of existence”).
Lévinas even suggests the real experience of this “Il y a” (beeing* in French, his native language), this nothing does not indicate a noun and as such is a “not something” (reminiscent of Han’s non-things), this “ghostly” presence (Einstein called the included third of quantum physics this), “being remains as a field of force… returning to the heart of it from the negation that removes it, and to all degrees of this negation” (again quoting Lévinas, pg. 70).
The suggestive potential of “Il y a” is elevated by logical dissonance: “Obscurity – as the presence of absence – is not a purely present content. It is not about a ‘something’ that remains, but about the very atmosphere of presence, which can certainly appear much later with a content…” (pg. 70, also citing the work of Lévinas).
The ascension of Jesus (photo picture of tiles, Portugal), a global festival this week in many Christian countries is even a holiday, in the light of this ontological vision it can reveal a theological reformulation, because in the biblical reading his departure and absence corresponds to the coming of a third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit.
Thus in John 16:13 we read: “However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak for himself, but he will say everything he hears and will reveal to you everything that is to come”, and in this way he will reveal the truth.
This onto-theo-teleo-logical truth must include a trinitarian logic: the Included Third.
* being in general (ontologic)
Han, B. C. (2023) Coração de Heidegger: sobre o conceito de tonalidade afetiva em Martin Heidegger (Heidegger’s heart: on the concept of affective tonality in Martin Heidegger). Transl.Rafael Rodrigues Garcia, Milton Camargo Mota. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
