Man has found he way to the resonance of the word
"What walks on fours in the morning, twos at midday and threes in the afternoon?" |
Sophocles, Antigone (lines 332-75). There are many translations, this one by Ralph Manheim is best I know of.
There is much that is strange, but nothing that surpasses man in strangeness. He sets sail on the frothing waters amid the south winds of winter taking through the mountains and furious chasms of the waves. He wearied even the noblest of gods, the Earth, indestructible and untiring, overturning her from year to year, driving the plows this way and that with horses. And man, pondering and plotting, snares the light-gliding birds and hunts the beasts of the wilderness and the native creatures of the sea. With guile he overpowers the beast that roams the mountains by night as by day, he yokes the hirsute neck of the stallion and the undaunted bull. And he has found his way to the resonance of the logos,** and to wind-swift all-understanding, and to the courage to rule over cities. He has considered also how to flee from exposure to the arrows of unpropitious weather and frost. Everywhere journeying, inexperienced and without issue, he comes to nothingness. Through no flight can he resist the one assault of death, even if he has succeeded in cleverly evading painful sickness. Clever indeed, mastering the ways of skill beyond all hope, he sometimes accomplishes evil, sometimes achieves brave deeds. He wends his way between the laws of the earth and the adjured justice of the gods. Rising high above his place, he who for the sake of adventure takes the nonessent for essent* looses his place in the end. May such a man never frequent my hearth; May my mind never share the presumption of him who does this. *essent: the being that belongs to every being, the present participle of "sum" in Latin. From which "being-there" emerges. ** logos is translated as "word" but it is much more. |
"wind-swift all-understanding" |
The Titan Prometheus steals the divine fire for humanity, enabling language, consciousness, and the development of civilization. Plato thinks that the name Prometheus derived from the Greek prefix pro- (before) + manthano (intelligence) and the agent suffix-eus, thus meaning "Forethinker". |
One of the first philosophers to deal with the Logos is Heraclitus. He stresses that the message is not his own invention, but a timeless truth available to any who attend to the way the world itself is. “Although this Word is common,
” he warns, “the many live as if they had a private understanding.” The Word (account, message) exists apart from Heraclitus' teaching, but he tries to convey that message to his audience:"Of this Word's being forever do men prove to be uncomprehending, both before they hear and once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this Word, they are like the unexperienced experiencing words and deeds such as I explain when I distinguish each thing according to its nature and show how it is. Other men are unaware of what they do when they are awake just as they are forgetful of what they do when they are asleep."
Language, consciousness, and memory are interrelated, so we must take a peek at the myth of memory,