March 1, 2012
There is a certain ambiguity in Levinas when he says ‘Other’. By ‘Other’ he means the human Other although what he says also applies to the Infinite Other (God). There is an absolutely Infinite Other who is other than the human Other, however the two are so intimately related that the Infinite Other (God) is also in the human Other. The infinite Other (God) is not fully captured in the human Other because the human Other cannot imprison the Infinite. The Absolute Infinite (God) is not like a topic or theme which one can grasp and completely understand, but is instead a certain trace, of which we can only glimpse.
God’s trace is not an appearance or a phenomenon, in the sense that it is an uncovering or disclosure because it’s not just something given to perception nor is it a matter of knowledge. God’s presence is not a total manifestation, but only a glimpse or a trace. It is through us and through the human Other that God makes ‘manifest’. The infinite is ‘felt’ when, in the presence of the Other, the I says “Me-here-for-you.”The more I become just and responsible, the more I show the presence of God. God is invisible to the senses, we don’t see apparitions. However, we see people comforting and being responsible to Others.
When one does good, he cannot say “I have done all my duty.” Like the exigency for holiness and excellence, the ethical demand cannot be completed or finished. Emphasized here is difference between satis (from satis-fied) and magis. We are all called to be magis and therefore the person who does good knows that there is more good to be done.
Illeity
Certain Jewish prayers start addressing God using the personal ‘you’ or ‘thou.’ However, as the prayer progresses, the address to God becomes more distant and the prayer begins to refer to God as “ille,” which is the third person. Ille is the Latin form for the third person.
Ille is a form of address that shows that the person is tries to show that God has already passed on, and is already ahead. One cannot catch up with him and therefore God cannot be boxed. Because God is transcendent, already ahead, and is only a trace, the way he is manifested is through the testimony of human beings who do the good. When the subject says “Me here for you,” the person is giving witness and is thus testifying to the Infinite. The Greek word for witness is the same word from which we get the word martyr. The martyr gives witness to God and shows witness to God because he is willing to die for that which he believes in. The glory of God consists in retreating and so making the human being an image of his creativity.
Saying and Unsaying
We are doing something very paradoxical. The whole philosophy 102 venture has thus been an indiscretion with regard to the unsayable. The real essence of Levinas’ philosophy is not to remain as content in the mind, but to be lived out in action. Through Levinas we learn many terms and concepts and we will perhaps forget all of these. It’s important to talk about ethics just as, from time to time, you must say to your loved ones “Mahal kita.” But love is not just in the uttering of the words, but in the doing. Philosophy must be unsaid; that is, philosophy should not only remain on the conceptual level. When you are helping someone you do not think of Levinasian terms, you simply help the other.
The unsaying would be like this: “How do we make God come through us?” This is the very creativity of God, that precisely he uses me, a crooked instrument, to write straight, because I have the capacity of letting him through. This is testimony and witnessing. Even if one does not believe in God, one can still do the good.
Leo and Levinas Walk Into a Bar 
Some studies say that today’s youth have an entirely different “anxiety” from the older/past generations. Today’s youth are more pressured to make a big impact on this world. A doctor parent would feel that he makes an impact to this world one patient at a time. For a younger one, it would be providing health care for the largest amount of people possible. Here, we can see how people are becoming more and more aware of the infinity of their responsibility to the billions of occupants of the world. Even though only some of them have come across Levinas, they are already in the process of unsaying the said of Levinas, but I believe that it’s still important to study Levinas philosophy even with the danger of totalizing the human experience because it gives sense to the sometimes senseless acts of kindness.
From this lecture, I actually found a new reason to do good. This is to not let down the God in all of us. God is in all of us and when we do good, we reveal a trace of him. Wouldnt the world just be a som much better place if we saw more of God in everyone? If everyone just let the infinite in them push them to doing more, doing more good – imagine where we’d be.
The relation of the Other as a trace of the Infinite, to that of the idea of God is quite pervasive in our everyday interaction with other people. We can see some purpose or some sense of God’s design in the disturbances that Other people create in our lives – and by doing so we get an idea that God is somehow moving towards helping us become more ethical, or showing us a sign that we must step out from just merely Being and towards Being for others.
We are called therefore to respond to the signs that the traces of the Infinite place upon us, and yes, we must do so with our actions much more, as a supplement to our words. We are imperfect, all of us, but through the said and the unsaying, we become testimonials and part of his perfect plan. And we realize this plan as we move towards being there for the Other, loving the Other, as we allow ourselves to draw closer, although never at the same level, to the Infinite.
What really struck me during the discussion is when Doc G said that God being absent does not mean we can do everything that we want. There is always that primordial responsibility to the other that we feel, independent of our personal Faith. It is fascinating to realize that as a matter of fact, our relationships with the other is not dictated by the command of our religion to do good unto others to achieve salvation- it runs much deeper within our core. But it raises the question, is Ethics a more universal Faith, an “umbrella religion” if you may? If I were to answer this question right now, categorizing Ethics as Religion only garaponates it in this category, Ethics is bigger in such a way that its domain is more than religion. Religion is just a part of humanity, and others choose to deny it altogether, but Ethics is the essence of humanity as a whole. After all, what good is it to be human, to exist, if we’re not ethical?
What I took from all of this is that we cannot be hypocrites. If we make a promise, we should do it otherwise, do not make that promise at all. There has to be a follow-through after the saying which is action. An example is when we, as Christians promise to be to good to Others. Even if there was meaning and wanting to carry out this promise we make yet we did not act on it, it is still being hypocritical.
It’s great if everyone would just realize that it doesn’t matter who or what you believe in, as long as we are helping each other and being good people to Others, then the world would be a much better place. Where people would actually set aside their differences and care for the Others, even when there are no great disasters happening, that is a world I want to leave behind for future generations.
The Infinite Other may be in all of us (the human Other) but we do not have the capacity to hold what the Infinite Other may have. Like what the article states, the Infinite Other leaves a trace as to what men can see. It may not be physically seen but men can feel it through his actions. The more we act, the more we feel and show the presence of God. Thus, we are called to do and act more than what we may have done. Some people may do more as to what they were told. It does not mean that they are perfectionists or work-aholics but there is something in all of us that tells us to do more. This is the Infinite Other giving us sight over the responsibilities coming towards us.
Amidst the trials and tribulations we encounter in the journey of our lives, I believe that there still exists a loving and caring God who will never abandon us. And despite the evil and incessant desire for power and profit, which seem to prevail in the world today, there still exist acts of goodness. Whether these may be little and senseless acts of kindness or significant ones, God continues to leave His traces through the people who willingly and continuously give service to others – individuals, whom my Theology professor once referred to as “billboards” of God’s revelation.
“God reveals Himself to us even through the smallest things, ” a friend once said during our YFC prayer meeting. It may be receiving a timely yet simple text message from a friend whom you have not talked to in a long time or even getting a friendly greeting from a random passerby during a bad day. I guess all that is left for us to do is to simply open our hearts and minds in order to truly see and realize God’s mysterious ways.
Our families, friends and even strangers whom have molded our individualities in one way or another are His ways of showing His compassion for us. Perhaps, we, in turn, could touch other people’s lives, reach out and lend a hand especially to the ones who are in need. Hopefully, in our own little ways, we eventually become testimonies, witnesses and billboards of God’s love.
Amidst the trials and tribulations we encounter in the journey of our lives, I believe that there still exists a loving and caring God who will never abandon us. And despite the evil and incessant desire for power and profit, which seem to prevail in the world today, there still exist acts of goodness. Whether these may be little and senseless acts of kindness or significant ones, God continues to leave His traces through the people who willingly and continuously give service to others – individuals, whom my Theology professor once referred to as “billboards” of God’s revelation.
“God reveals Himself to us even through the smallest things,” a friend once said during our YFC prayer meeting. It may be receiving a timely yet simple text message from a friend whom you have not talked to in a long time or even getting a friendly greeting from a random passerby during a bad day. I guess all that is left for us to do is to simply open our hearts and minds in order to truly see and realize God’s mysterious ways.
Our families, friends and even strangers whom have molded our individualities in one way or another are His ways of showing His compassion for us. Perhaps, we, in turn, could touch other people’s lives, reach out and lend a hand especially to the ones who are in need. Hopefully, in our own little ways, we eventually become testimonies, witnesses and billboards of God’s love.
*I’m sorry for posting this again. I was not able to edit my display name in the previous post.
Saying is an important aspect in our life. Personally, I want people to tell straight to my face what they are thinking because I don’t want to assume some things. Assuming can lead to misunderstanding that can eventually lead to broken friendships. However, saying is just as important as unsaying by which it means here as the doing. Saying sometimes can be deceiving. One may say words although they do not mean it. Just like promises that can be broken. Unsaying is doing than just mere saying. Oftentimes, one can see how one is important to other people by even the simple things that the person do to him/her. It’s like when someone is depressed, it more comforting to hug that person than just say,”It’s okay,” since it isn’t. Actions are better especially if one cannot find the right words to say.
Adding to what 093191 said:
Actions indeed speaks louder than words. Words are nothing but a bunch of letters. One cannot prove oneself with just words alone because one could lie about it. Even the simplest actions may have the best meanings.
The best example that I could think of can be seen in the human growth. As babies, they cannot talk much but they can show their affection to their parents with the slightest touch. As they grow old, words may be muttered but their love for their parents would not be forgotten. In the teen years, rebellion would occur. And years after that, understanding and deeper affection for their parents would emerge. Even with the hardest obstacle in life, the love for the parents would not be forgotten.
When one does good, he cannot say “I have done all my duty.”
The best example that I could give is the very life of Jesus Christ. His whole life is a ministry of his love-filled servant leadership for all. He did good deeds to everyone, without partiality. He even ate and shared the same table with sinners. However, He was never satisfied in doing all of these. He even died, in the cruelest way one can imagine, so that we can be able to really embrace His salvific love. But, he did not stop there. After His resurrection and upon his return to His rightful place, He bestowed upon us His words that He will be forever in our midst. Until now, He is still with us doing everything in His power to give us authentic love and happiness.
What I got from this topic is that we should never count the good deeds we do for others because it should come out as something natural from us. It is something that we should be living about and not something just to pass time with. It is not a requirement that has a deadline and one that we should just forget when we are done with it.
What if we our ideas of being good are not the same as the others? For example, our parents, they would love us unconditionally, gives us the last piece of bread even if they are really hungry, yung tipong, “isusubo na lang, ibibigay pa sa’yo.” But there are also times that our parents ignore us but this does not mean that they don’t love us. They should know how to respond to our needs but at the same time, in a manner that they would not spoil us too much.
As a parent, it is a joy to see your child walk for the first time but still, you are nervous because what if he stumbles and gets hurt? But that is part of being a good parent, teaching your child to move forward after the stumble so that he would be a better person, they should not hinder their growth. Other parents approach may be different, others impose punishments to discipline the wrong actions of their child. Others give everything their children ask of them. Being good may be in different manners as long as you do not hinder the growth of the Others and you know for yourself that your objective from the beginning is to do good towards the Others and bury them further under the ground.
There are times when we do good and we do not even realize this. It comes to us natural and one would just realize this when the situation already sank down into their minds. You were conscious of your actions but you weren’t sure of what you’ve done, you just did what you think is the best thing to do. I remember this certain time in the library when a guy closes a door before his friend could even go out and so his friend stumbled. My instinct was to help her stand again and so I did. When I saw her friend, he was just laughing and I just realize what I have done afterwards. In all times, the situation calls for us to help Others but we often ignore them. For example, you saw people fighting, your instinct is to run and hide so you will not be implicated. Or when you see someone who needs help but you only passed by this person because you think other people would eventually help them.
I give money to beggars even if my parents teach me not to give to these children because they might be part of a bigger scam, but you just can’t ignore them because we are still responsible for them, not only to them but to all the Others in our world. Although I give help to them, I am guilty of helping others but not all the time. When you pass by the footbridge in gate 2.5, there are beggars asking for money and I have this idea in my mind that I will only give them money once a week because they are the same persons that beg for money from you each day. So when asked, “kuya pahinging barya,” I respond, “kabibigay ko lang sa’yo kahapon e, next week naman.” This should not be the case for, quoting a specific line from the blog entry, “We are all called to be magis and therefore the person who does good knows that there is more good to be done.”
It’s so hard to continue the unsaying…
Glad that this blog exists 🙂 I can always remember when life makes me forget.
Thank you so much Dr. Leo and Ms. Abbey and classmates for the wonderful philo experience. Life will never be the same.