Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Manifesto

"Philosophy is a play on words"
so they say.

that may seem as gloomy an insult as April showers
and yet is as beautiful as the flowers of may
I do not take that too lightly
hell,
by definition, the aforementioned quote is a play on itself
well,
Let us ask what is "definition", what is "philosophy"
What is "a"... what is "play"... what is "on"... what is "words"
I ask, most important of all what is "what"
WHAT is "IS"???

THEY SAY that
"is" confirms existence
that, I think therefore I am, I think therefore I is
does "I is" make sense?

it does in the southern USA

In this sense they are telling ME
that everything must be able to think and confirm their existence
else they don't exist at all,
What we perceive with our senses,
does not necessarily represent what "is:
IT'S ALL IN THE LANGUAGE
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MY LANGUAGE THEN YOU DON”T UNDERSTAND
ME

In a foreign land where I do not speak your language,
where I do not walk around confirming my existence do I really exist to you?
Because I cannot articulate my existence in your native "dialect"
(be it verbal or by means of any other senses)
I DON'T EXIST
I will assure you that this is an experience that all immigrants go through

"The foreigner's speech can bank only on its bare rhetoric strength, and the inherent desires he or she has invested on it...
I do what they want me to but it is not "me" (*1)

I spend so much time trying to do what "society" (this system) wants me to do that I lose sense of myself

I lose sense of who I am
That is the existence of an immigrant
DO I SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU NOW?
In a society that is constantly shifting around us "are we not all foreigners"?
I AM A FOREIGNER
I DO SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU,
I sound like...
...YOU
WE ARE ALL FOREIGNERS
foreigners, all bounded by our thurst for democracy.

"democracy involves the recognition, if not perpetuation of difficulty and disagreement." (*2)

Do YOU disagree?
curious?
Is it because I sound peculiar, strange?

"People's lives are haphazard paths that have no meaning and lead nowhere and which, for that very reason, are "curious" " (*3)

Let us not focus on OUR "haphazard paths" but on one another's

I have been misunderstood, way too often
I want to be understood
to be understood one must first understand
I will take the initiative to understand you
"One must follow in order to be followed" (*3)
But then if I follow you then I revert back to being an immigrant
a clone, a shadow, a robot...
I would not be James Kenley Morantus

"All our power is in what we can follow, in what we can attain with eyes closed" (*3)
So I will follow you with my eyes closed
You should do the same
I WILL FOLLOW YOU... YOU WILL FOLLOW ME!
*Following the other one replaces him, exchange lives, passions, wills, transform oneself in the other's stead. It is perhaps the only way man can fulfill himself" (*3)
Social equality, Democracy
That is the only way for man to fulfill himself

he must turn into himself while also following all others

I will not interpret your actions internally
I will ask you directly... WHY DO YOU ACT as such?
I will not only follow and interact with the public
I will allow the public to interact with me

Democracy is founded on public space that should be, essentially empty. (*4)

I will exchange lives, passions and wills with the public,
I will replace the public, rather;
I will become one with the public
I will empty myself
I will become an "empty public space"
"this emptiness will not belong to any individual or group" (*4)
it will be available to anyone who can bring meaning to it
YOU BRING MEANING TO MY LIFE

"To survive, the immigrant must establish a utopia, a "no-place" that is located in the present time, not hidden in the horizon of some idealized future." (*5)

I will make the "empty public space" MY UTOPIA
you should do the same
after all
we are all foreigners... all of us
each of us,
an immigrant to the future, the ever transforming public space
to each his own
to each his own "foreigner's" experience in the public space
my public space, my utopia,
your utopia, your public space
you have been following me all along
you have become me
Let us live one another's life EVERYDAY, in the public space,
our public space
let us become the PUBLIC SPACE
let us become the EVERYDAY

"It is in the everyday life and starting from the everyday life that genuine creations are achieved"...
..."The region where man appropriates not so much external nature but his own nature" (*6)

Every situation that I am faced with is derived from a previous choice
a choice that I made according to my "own values"
what if we all had the same values?
what is we all dwelled in each other's "public space"?
As a friend of mine once said;
"you are a blink of an eye in the sands of time" (*7)
Close your eyes, do not blink,
ELIMINATE AS MANY OF YOUR SENSES AS YOU CAN
"IN ORDER TO"

pay attention to me, empty your mind
become an "empty public space,"
so that I can become you
become one with time, become one with me,
If we are to understand each other we have to know that
we are all grains of sand in the hourglass that we call time

the clock is ticking,
many grains of sand have fallen through the connecting tube of the hourglass
...by death
let us not wait to fall through the tube in order to understand each other
To fall through the tube,
that is our final destination.

I will not live in fear, denying a final destination,
death
I will live just as the grains of sand in the hourglass
I will
I will not be afraid to follow, and in turn be followed
I will not be afraid of failure, there will be no doubts
for doubt IS The Enemy Of Success

THIS IS NOT PHILOSOPHY
THIS IS NOT A PLAY ON WORDS
THIS IS NOT ART
THIS
IS ART
YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ME!!!... “NOTYET”......

HOWEVER
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE ALL DIE
...ALL THE SAME!
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE SHOULD ALL LIVE THE SAME
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE SHOULD ALL DWELL IN EACH OTHER'S EVERYDAY
YOU DO KNOW THAT WE SHOULD ALL DWELL IN EACH OTHER'S "PUBLIC SPACE"
WHAT YOU ARE READING IS NOT A MANIFESTO
WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ IS...

...ME...

...JAMES MORANTUS !

NOW,
WANT TO READ............. "YOU"


*1 Julia Kristeva, "Transitional Artifice"
*2 Patricia C. Phillips > Rosalyn Deutsche, "Creating Democracy: A Dialogue with Krzysztof Wodiczko"
*3 Sophie Calle, "Follow Me"
*4 Claude Lefort, "The Logic of Totalitarianism"
*5 Stephane Moses, "immigrant utopia"
*6 Henri Lefebvre, Clearing the Ground
*7 Your very own Z JAY