24 July 2006

Wittgenstein + Rilke

I feel Wittgenstein like a call. I do yield to him. In this sense... what's wrong with fideism? I'm reminded of Rilke's first Duino Elegy,

Strange to no longer desire one's desires. Strange
to see meanings that clung together once, floating away
in every direction.

but, of course, Rilke is talking about a purely spiritual yielding, a death and a giving up of all human custom. Wittgenstein would have us yield to his non-philosophy, to give up the human philosophical custom. Does this release entail a release of wonder or inquiry? But a child wonders and inquires.

To link philosophy with love: Plato's case in the Symposium. But can philosophical inquiry be done while giving up this most unfulfilling relationship?
Shouldn't this most ancient of sufferings finally grow
most fruitful for us? Isn't it time that we lovingly
freed ourselves from the beloved and, quivering, endured:
as the arrow endures the bowstring's tension, so that
gathered in the snap of release it can be more than
itself. For there is no place where we can remain.
A lover is a blanket, which we use to hide our cold emptiness from others and ourselves. Can we not give up the notion of terrestrial love and be called--yield--to something much higher?