If anyone knows Gilles Delueze, they may know that in his Anti-Oedipus he discusses the function of space as being a rather open terrain and we humans are sliding through it with various obstacles in our way. Time being that which forces our movement forth. Though it has been a while since I have read the book, (I plan to revisit it and discuss this in more depth), what i remember most distinctly is feeling liberated by such a thought.
The French thinkers of the sixties and eighties made everything relativistic. They had a rather defeatist picture of the world as a place where one can never truly strive for Equality, Truth, or Justice because everything has varying degrees of Inequality, Lies, and Injustice.
In other words, Good is made relative because all good has some Evil, and vis versa.
In other words, Good is made relative because all good has some Evil, and vis versa.
Though linguistically and philosophically and even scientifically there is a strong validity behind this claim. There is also a weak link.
Where do you draw the line!?
A STORY: Delueze was asked once by a reader post his Anti-Oedipus publication "why don't you just bite your nails," as a reference to the fact that his idea of sexuality excludes the importance of taking care of oneself, Deuluze's response "why would i bit anything on my body"!
I found this rather phenomenal as it proved, to me at least, to contradict his theories. Clearly, he has drawn a line of what is acceptable and what is not. He has definitively stated that there is something wrong with biting one's nails.
As a current nail bitter, I was fascinated that the men and women I used to justify my bad habits were failing me.
Not that there is no substance to what Deuluze writes, he is without a doubt in my mind a brilliant thinker, but a few decades after his writings it is more and more clear that the world is not just an open terrain with obstacles to overcome.
We are evermore delineated into structures, paradigms, scopes of thought and narration. Though they be weak in their foundation, and questionable, and easy (to some extent) to move beyond, they are also like magnets pushing and tugging at matter dragging it in one direction versus another.
I am Arab, and though I am appalled by the traditional marriage customs that are delineated to me, I find myself following them ever so mildly, instead of rejecting them absolutely. Perhaps this is a very rare example, as I know many women who do challenge this status and do it in the ways that best reflect their beliefs. But I also know many modern women who believe one thing in theory and in practice partake in a far more humble approach.
There is no one way of doing anything (a very post-modern statement). But without a doubt one cannot underestimate that the values that shape us, the genes that make us, the experiences that are limited to our lives, and the fundamental barriers that exist in the world will forever be a part of determining what and how we oscillate.
Though there are overlapping realities between people, the differences are like walls we push up against and always have to challenge when in the midst of our development.
I guess what in a long winded way I am trying to say is Dueluze only got it half right. We are bound to be limited by so many things in our lives, not everything is contextual, and not everything is shared, or blended together. There will always be things that are just plan unacceptable.
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