Have I found my guru? Could it be Edouard Glissant? Don't worry if you have never heard of him, I have only discovered his work recently. I've never had a guru and thought I never would. I was listening to a philosophy program on French Radio. Edouard Glissant was being interviewed. Glissant means sliding, a significant name.... He was explaining how he rejects the idea of a universal system of thought. A light went on. In my mind. I have been playing with the idea that a human being does not constitute a coherent logical system. Philosophers always write as if one should subscribe to just one system of thought, which happens to be theirs. Glissant states that such a system is repressive, a conclusion which I had arrived to. I read texts by philosophers, and I also ask myself, of what right? From whose thigh do they think they are born to be so sure of their own theories? I perceive myself as a mosaic of elements: experiences, thoughts, feelings, imagination, fears, hopes, illusions. The only coherent aspect of this system comes from the fact that I produce them. These contradictions provide me with a richness in which I delight, and I'm sure others enjoy theirs too.
I have bought, for a small fortune, La Poétique de la Relation (Poetics of relation), by Glissant, and I'm diving into it. His style, consistent with his philosophy, is ... sliding, glissant. Poetic and allusive. I'll keep you posted as I read.
Communicated by - Arabella Hutter
