Marc Perrin

Spinoza in China

Spinoza in China – Ernesto April 8, 2012

A decision has been made to leave the flat he’s been living in for eight years. A decision has been made to leave the flat, followed by a walk toward Nantes train station, where, thanks to an advance ticket bought two months earlier → prem’s ticket → nonchangeable ticket → nonrefundable ticket → ticket which can nevertheless be sold on www.trocdestrains.com → Ernesto → that’s me → Ernesto sits in seat 25, coach 4 of the train reaching Paris Montparnasse two hours later.

In a less realistic version, let’s say: in a whimsical version, and, or, imaginative version, or, and, imaginary version, or may be fanciful version → we would follow Ernesto as he rides his silver horse and we would read his thoughts in a bubble spinning above his wild hair floating in the wind: on this very day I am riding toward the repossession of some of the real estate I own in Paris, the administrative capital of France, the land where I was born.

Call me Ernesto. I rent a flat on 32 rue Felix Thomas in Nantes. I also own a flat, on Rue des Archives in Paris. I am also a rider, a knight, a jungler, a monkey, a hummingbird, and a dingo. And → last → or shall we say → first of all → I am → the son of an uncertain disunited people to be defined or redefined. I am somewhere between 23 and 44 years old.

Concerning the Rue des Archives flat, the reason why I want to regain possession of it, is in the decision I made to sell it, and to sell it full price, in perfect harmony with the indecency of the real estate market, as it is. And → to sell it → to buy as soon as possible a house with a garden and happiness guaranteed for life.

Concerning my philosophical leanings: I am reading, all at once → Survivance des lucioles →Georges Didi-Huberman → + → The Ignorant Schoolmaster → Jacques Rancière → + → Spinoza is not yet completely in my heart → because I’m a rather slow guy → but → he’s beginning to really flow through my veins.

Concerning current-event news for the country – France: five-year presidential campaign going on → who really cares? → in the depths of his soul → what → does → the soul → have to do with that moment → when the immediate urgency is to produce a livable reality → media-politics → have never produced – but the unhappiness of those who endured with them → media → politics → produce the actual misfortune of the whole society → that is → to say → it is society as a whole that endures. So. If nothing manages to represent what we would have wished to have represented: 1. representation may be considered as irresponsible and therefore: it is useless to go on producing it; 2. they are responsible to those who have to answer to the present situation; 3. they are responsible to those who care to act in the present situation; 4. they are responsible to those who do not act in the present situation. As for me, I am depressed, as I have been every spring since 1968; relax, I’m kidding. As such, I come to you as a small but perfect object of study, representative of this time. Call me Ernesto.

Spinoza in China – Ernesto January 9, 2013

It’s not so much the question of feeling imprisoned and finding ways to quit this imprisonment. Here it is necessary to understand how we ourselves are the producers of this imprisonment → this imprisonment of which we affirm that we suffer from oppression. Here → it’s necessary to understand how liberation won’t come from an action that would allow us to leave, but, liberation will come through a very simple decision: and the decision → is → to stop → producing imprisonment. But. Obviously → to stop producing always hurts a little bit. And why does it always hurt a little bit? It always hurts a little bit because to produce always provides a little bit of pleasure. Even if it is a very little pleasure that is produced, it’s still pleasure. And when pleasure stops, even if the pleasure is tiny tiny tiny tiny, it always hurts a little bit. But. Here. The stoppage of imprisonment’s production → will produce the vanishing of oppression → and → the liberation → here → the liberation is not to be produced anymore → and → freedom is not to be conquered → here → liberation and freedom are efficient → So → here we define freedom as the very simple nonproduction of imprisonment. And we produce → here → we produce the passage from a little pleasure with its little anguish of death → to something → like a joy → A joy → in relation with something like → a power. Both of them, joy and power, very bright, and light, and wide → Angela and I, we don’t play too much the fool porque we are still in the learning process, and, but, we wish you a very nice life. Thank you.