“It follows essentially… that the positing of the essence with the intuitive apprehension that immediately accompanies it does not imply any positing of individual existence whatsoever. Pure essential truths do not make the slightest assertion concerning facts. Hence, from them alone we are not able to infer even the pettiest truth concerning the fact world.”
Husserl
There is an ironic paradox about our quest for self-knowledge. We can gain insights into the structures of human consciousness, reflecting on the constituting elements that shape our understanding and perception at the most fundamental level, and yet, at the same time, we can fail to know who we are as individual persons, what we really want from and in our lives, who we want to be with, and where, for goodness sake, is our place in the world.
“When we experience disorientation, we might notice orientation as something we do not have. It is in this mode of disorientation that one might begin to wonder: What does it mean to be orientated? How do we begin to know or to feel where we are, or even where we are going, by lining ourselves up with the features of the grounds we inhabit, the sky that surrounds us, or the imaginary lines that cut through maps. How do we know which way to turn to reach our destination? It is by understanding how we become orientated in moments of disorientation
Sara Ahmed
that we might learn what it means to be orientated in the first place.”
keep exploring!
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