Poiesis
Every occasion for whatever passes beyond the nonpresent and goes forward into presencing is poiesis, bringing forth.
—excerpt Symposium (205b) by Plato
Last night we met friends for dinner at The Green Door, a restaurant in Libertyville. A first visit to any smallish, bar-bistro on a Saturday evening is an adventure. There is the unfamiliar menu, presenting possibilities yet to be experienced. The bar was fully occupied, a row of patrons in animated conversation. The wait-person assisting with our order, answering questions, offered just the right balance of information and welcoming warmth. The background of elevated room conversation in the small room, required one give undivided attention to individual speaking. The evening was relaxed, the food was superb, craft beer, a cocktail, and a glass of wine lent notes of celebration to the “time out” spent with friends.
We touched on topics of recent interest. Politics of course is unavoidable given the times in which we live. There are the challenges of business, always the work relationships, and the television programs recently discovered on Netflix.
Is not friendship the most productive of relationships? A friend is able to call forth, bring-to-light what lies unrevealed in us and before us. A question was asked of me about a blog post of several days ago. The question prompted me to reflect upon the words of Nietzsche that inspired me to attempt to say something about women. The challenge for any male is not to fall off of the high-wire into the utter non-sense, into the BS of conventional euphemism, the stereotypical assumptions bandied about by males. The challenging question at the table prompted me to remember what of Nietzsche’s metaphors to show the essence, to show bedrock at bottom of all of our language about women, grabbed me. I think there is bedrock under all of those love songs, even the schmaltzy ones. What of the truth beneath the bloviation of the macho stories exchanged by men at the bar?
I returned to my earlier blog entry this morning. Its not too late to sharpen the language, to reach a bit more directly for the truth of the matter.
