East
Lorenzo Garbarino
If Ludwig Wittgenstein was right in his influential take that “the limits of my language means the limits of my world”, then English is ill-equipped to analyze the deepest concepts in Eastern philosophy. Our language structure does not favor discourse about the void, as can be easily seen by the relatively few ways we have of talking about it. Yet, this doesn’t mean that any attempt is completely useless. Indeed, Eastern philosophy might have much to say precisely where our language struggles to arrive.
One of the key concepts in Eastern philosophy, particularly in Indian Buddhism and Hinduism, is the term Sunyata, which can be translated into English as “emptiness”. This word is so cardinal, and so difficult to describe in our own terms, because it forms the basis of many of the (apparent) contradictions and paradoxes of these philosophies. To complicate things further, the root Sunya means empty, while the suffix -ta is equivalent to the English -ness. Sunya is of course a word, and can take meanings that are more mundane, such as “the box is empty.” The relation between Sunya and Sunyata is not trivial but is key to understanding what the void is in Buddhism. While Sunya refers to being empty in ways that we more commonly encounter, Sunyata is a higher truth that comes from the realization that all Beings are empty in the sense that they are devoid of an independent self. It is the emptiness experienced by the “Beginner’s Mind”; a mind that has not been corrupted by experience. Buddhist scholars, however, often note that the attempt to describe Sunyata itself is futile, and it must be experienced directly as a state of consciousness. So, the only way is to reach it is with practice. However, striving is an attachment to form, and any attachment is not Sunyata. Perhaps, the only way is to stop seeking.
West
Pietro Ferrari
The act of doing nothing, reading, or writing a book, was one of the worst sins a Roman citizen could be accused of.
The Negotium, which means taking part in the public life of the Res Publica, was men’s priority: it was everything a “good man” should have done with his time on Earth. Going to the senatus and attending the comitia, serving in the military, and building a strong family: all these principles were enshrined in the unwritten Roman moral law, the Mos Maiorum
Roman society was built on this tradition for centuries. The city was founded on agricultural life and religious zeal, locked in this conservative approach to the world. Such a pure ideology could not be maintained for long: as the power of Rome expanded across Italy and around it, the romans met a more advanced and elaborate way of living. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, the conquered Greece conquered back with ideas her savage conqueror: Greek culture brought literature, poetry and theater to Rome, starting a long debate between those that upheld the Mos Maiorum and those that admired the East for art and philosophy.
The first faction was led by Cato the Censor, the political leader of the xenophobic movement in Rome, and later by Cicero, who disregarded poetry as useless and dangerous. These authors believed that literature could only be used for the good of the many, thus ruling out any expression of individuality in favor of public and political use of art.
On the other side of the debate, we find poets such as Catullus and Lucretius. This two were followers of the Greek philosopher Epicurus and refused to take part in the Negotium: they pursued art living in obscurity, far away from the political stage, following the principle Lathe biosas.
The debate went on during the age of the empire and especially during the dictatorial reign of Nero. The philosopher Seneca wrote many essays about this, and he came to believe that every action aimed at helping people, iuvare mortalem, could have been considered worthy. Ultimately it is the balance between Otium and Negotium that must guide the wise man.
I’m always looking for things that give me the impression I exist. I’m not a magician, so I write. And take some pictures along the way. I also happen to be in ESS.
