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In his work The Sickness unto Death, Soren Kierkegaard describes a similar polarity, describing how people wrestle with the conception of themselves as being both finite and infinite. Similar to Merleau-Ponty, Kierkegaard explains that the acknowledgement of these two "poles" results in a deeper understanding and sense of ones self.
How, you wonder, can you be here, in place and at home in yourbody, and at the same time inhabit an atmospheric world that returnsthe body to you as a spectre? In that existential doubt lies the engine ofperception.
This idea ties to the subjectivity and objectivity as mentioned in class. Rather the objectivity and subjectivity of sensing and perception can exist simultaneously. It reminds me of the Daoist work of Zhuangzi. This work is comprised of various parables on natural and humanist reflections. A very fundamental principle of Daoism is the mimicry of nature as it exhibits the Dao, or the Way. One such parable depicts Zhuangzi and Huizi, a prime minister, strolling along a dam. Zhuangzi makes a comment that the minnows are so joyful as they "dart around where they please." Huizi rebuts saying "You are not a fish -- how do you know what fish enjoy?" Zhuangzi eventually concludes that he know what the fish enjoy simply by standing by the river. The parable gets at the subjectivity of his observations intertwined with the objectivity of the fish's actions. They are existing together much like the observation of a stars light and the objective luminescence of a star. It gets slightly at perspective but creates a fascinating tension between the objective and subjective. If you want to read the parable is is here: https://terebess.hu/english/tao/Zhuangzi-Burton-Watson.pdf on page 276.
The painting appeals to us preciselybecause it both chimes with our experience of what it feels like to be underthe stars and affords us the means to dwell upon it - perhaps to discoverdepths in this experience of which we would otherwise remain unaware .
This experience is reminiscent of an approach in the Spiritual Exercises (a series of meditations constructed into a 4-week retreat, written by St. Ignatius of Loyola). Within the Exercises, the retreatant is instructed to make an "application of the senses," revisiting their meditations and paying closer attention to what they hear, feel, taste, smell, etc. Ignatius writes that in meditating this way, the experience and awareness of one's sensations allows them to "draw more profit" from the meditation, prompting a deeper, more revelatory prayer.
The painting appeals to us preciselybecause it both chimes with our experience of what it feels like to be underthe stars and affords us the means to dwell upon it - perhaps to discoverdepths in this experience of which we would otherwise remain unaware
This reminds me of writing, in this instance rhetoric and writing is rhetoric and art, as an affective composition in that the context, style, and signification of the art affects how we are both sensitive to and can sense how it feels to be under the stars and ponder the depths in the experience of being under the stars that one might otherwise be unaware of. This makes Gogh's art "matter" because of its style like metaphysical graffiti from Edbauer.