At this time of self-isolation, we can deeply feel Holderlin’s heartfelt scream that “man is a poetic inhabitant of this world.” Something that goes beyond the reasonable worries that come from the corona virus, beyond the impatience to return to our urban rituals. An oxymoron of incompatible states remains in us. I inwardly feel my impatience when we do Hector’s homework, but I also feel his little hand, as he writes slowly, creating his time. I am discovering another world nearby in a slow existential time!
Author: Bardhyl Zaimi
Even if you want to, you cannot escape the time of coronavirus. In self-isolation, the world is perceived differently. Previous rituals of the day have already turned into solitary meditations on other things that have shaken life to the core. Nothing looks the same as before. Moreover, the witty tones in a piece of writing, such as this one, only seek to avoid the painful statistics that are repeated every day in the media. Many well-known names in the world have already pointed out the fact that after the corona virus the world will no longer be the same. And probably everything will change. The human being after numerous ascents in the technological world is already facing an undeniable fact that puts him in front of a fragility like never before.
Self-isolation is not so much of a problem for the creator. He seeks it all the time, as a predisposition to communicate and transcend to other dimensions of human existence. It is the creators, more than anyone else, who throughout our human existence have warned us of a phenomena that have since become part of the human condition. It is precisely from the peaks of loneliness, of that extreme transcendence, that the creators have invited the transcendent human being to carry forward its existence only in genes, which are not necessarily related only to reality as determined by a certain time. Thomas Eliot used to say that “my brain can’t stand so much reality”. Exactly, this is the creative dimension that refuses to become a scheme of a given reality, to become a caricature of this reality. It is in these frequencies that Jan Parandovski’s thorough exploration of his book “Alchemy of the Word” remains. He says that a creator does not need to visit new places, because it is enough to visit the places inside him to create. Fear, horror, control, the values of democracy that today can be questioned by various debutants in the world, have also been in the unbiased field of creative sensibility. They may have said it all, but we were not there to listen to the parabolic warnings that speak to all eras. Doesn’t Homer speak to all eras. And Dante, who with the circles of hell exceeded the state of mind? And, Shakespeare who remains so similar to Aeschylus. Yes, Oruelli with his famous year 1984. Didn’t the “Plague” of Kamuis shock us to the core, warnings that one day he will wake up in furniture, sheets and other clothes? Didn’t Marquez give us his masterpiece “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, precisely from a hopeless situation in miniature that took place in Makondo, but which was the great metaphor of human loneliness? Everyone, without exception, has invited us to return to ourselves, to return to the slow time as defined by Milan Kundera. And, many, many others, each in their own original way, have elaborated on human loneliness in the face of the unknown, in the face of that infinite field of view that determines human smallness and greatness.
It’s been over three weeks in self-isolation, while the whole globe is struggling with an invisible enemy that scientists have so far failed to define. A real threat, which has made us drown in our small worlds, in that heartfelt corner from which we can meditate calmly on all that the human being represents. Kundera says that people can live without much, but not without stupidity. Even at this time of the necessary self-isolation, at this time when the information should be fast, accurate and objective, false news appear, which can also create completely wrong perceptions about the real situation with the corona virus. Professional information remains a permanent imperative, especially at this time. The holiness of life does not tolerate exhibitions. Everyone’s life is already in danger, while the scientific world is trying to identify this invisible enemy. As citizens, we have to respect the rules and move for a while in our small world as big as all of humanity.
If we refer to Bergjaev, it seems that we have lost chronological time, but we have internalized existential time. A catharsis of self-consciousness and self-reflection. Just like trees that cling to the ground and dream of ascending to heaven. Closer to each other bent and with delirious life. “Love is strong as death,” says the Song of Songs. Perhaps for many situations, not just in the field of mathematics, the theory of probability remains very essential. Especially at the time of this “arrogant” virus that walks full of laughter. All studies approach it with possible probability, yet without specifying it exactly.
Maybe it will stay that way. But, we must continue to live, because it seems that we are still in the eternal dichotomy TANATOS vs EROS. To nurture the good, the beautiful, the courage even in these days, that in addition to the pure biological, medical, etc. dimension, there is also the human dimension, the depth of not giving up life, the belief that not everything is in our hands, but that the effort to get caught up in life is always worth to do!
At this time of self-isolation, we can deeply feel Holderlin’s heartfelt scream that “man is a poetic inhabitant of this world.” Something that goes beyond the reasonable worries that come from the corona virus, beyond the impatience to return to our urban rituals. An oxymoron of incompatible states remains in us. I inwardly feel my impatience when we do Hector’s homework, but I also feel his little hand, as he writes slowly, creating his time. I am discovering another world nearby in a slow existential time!