Friday, March 27, 2009

The Poetics of Space Chapter 9 Dialectics of Outside and Inside


“But what a spiral a man’s being represents!  And what a number of invertible dynamisms there are in this spiral!  One no longer knows right away whether one is running toward the center or escaping.”  (p. 214)  A person does not always know where they are in themselves, they are not completely exposed on the outside and are not totally at center within themselves.  They are constantly in a spiral going back and forth and never completely still in their emotions and intimacy.  “Being does not see itself.  Perhaps it listens to itself.” (p. 215)  The person who is always changing and running to and from the outside world can not physically see where the center is and know where they stand.  One must take what they know and feel within themselves and decide where they are in life.  When a person begins to realize this they can start to figure out where they are in the spiral of inside vs. outside.

As we study ourselves and our surroundings -

“Intimate space loses its clarity, while exterior space loses its void, void being the raw material of possibility of being.  We are banished from the realm of possibility.”  (p. 218)  Intimate space, though small and personal does not ensure complete understanding of self and its universal placement. It is commonly more beneficial to explore situations and spaces in their entirety, encompassing surrounding elements and structures that would trigger internal growth. If we limit ourselves to intimacy and do not embark on elements that could assist in our learning and development, as a result we could then become the exterior that is void.

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