Looks like the tornado had settled just momentarily and it's not over yet... hehe... While I battle it out, here's a food for thought...
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"As
for what motivated me, it is quite simple; I would hope that in the eyes of some
people it might be sufficient in itself. It was curiosity – the only kind of
curiosity, in any case, that is worth acting upon with a degree of obstinacy:
not the curiosity that seeks to assimilate what it is proper for one to know,
but that which enables one to get free of oneself. After all, what would be the
value of the passion for knowledge if it resulted only in a certain amount of
knowledgeableness and not, in one way or another and to the extent possible, in
the knower’s straying afield of himself? There are times in life when the
question of knowing if one can think differently that one thinks, and perceive
differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking
and reflecting at all. People will say, perhaps, that these games with oneself
would better be left backstage; or, at best, that they might properly form part
of those preliminary exercises that are forgotten once they have served their
purpose. But, then, what is philosophy today – philosophical activity, I mean –
if it is not the critical work that thought brings to bear on itself? In what
does it consist, if not in the endeavour to know how and to what extent it
might be possible to think differently, instead of legitimating what is already
known?"
~ Michel
Foucault, The Use of Pleasure. Volume 2 of The History of Sexuality, 1990
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 5:30 pm
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