{"id":34840,"date":"2018-01-14T22:01:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T22:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/?p=34840"},"modified":"2018-01-14T22:02:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T22:02:27","slug":"isabela-vasiliu-scraba-plato-anamnesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/2018\/01\/14\/isabela-vasiliu-scraba-plato-anamnesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Isabela VASILIU-SCRABA: Plato-anamnesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hyperion\u2019s\u00a0cosmogonic visions\u00a0as remembrance \u00a0<\/strong>(<\/em>as Platonic <\/strong>\u00aban\u00e1mnesis\u00bb)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00abThose who tell it are priests and pries-tesses\u2026.Pindar speaks of it too, and many another of the poets who are divinely inspired\u2026 They say that the soul of man is immortal\u2026 So we need not be surprised if it can recall the \u00a0 knowledge of virtue\u2026. it once possessed\u2026The doctrine of an\u00e1mnesis pro-duces energetic seekers after knowledge.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Plato, <\/em>Meno<\/em><\/strong>, 81 a-d<\/em><\/p>\n

A very important part of the poem Luceaf\u00e3rul <\/em>(Mihai Eminescu, \u00abMorning Star\u00bb<\/em>) is concerned with a journey towards the origins of life and this world. Its matter is reflecting a problem the great poet has been (one way or another) continuously dealing with (See the cosmogony of the First Epistle<\/em>, or of the Prayer of a Dacian<\/em>). His preoccupation for the mystery of crea-tion, with some details that define a syn-thesis of superior creativity and philoso-phical inspiration, reveals the spiritual dimension of M. Eminescu\u2019s poetic space.<\/p>\n

Before approaching the miraculous verses of \u00abMorning Star\u00bb<\/em> (Luceaf\u00e3rul<\/em>), we should note that the Romanian folk tale \u00a0 Mihai Eminescu started out from is unu-sual enough, as love is the motor behind a double attempt made by two lovers to transcend their ontological status. The maiden seeks to ascend higher than mortals and the lad to give up his immortality. But both attempts remain just a desire, more or less contoured. Below, we shall deal with only one of the two failed attempts to change one\u2019s ontological status. The boldest one.<\/p>\n

Weaving a folk tale into the web of his famous masterpiece, the Poet did not just stick to the story line. A philosophical spirit par excellence<\/em>, he realized that the aspira-tion for a change of one\u2019s ontological status implies self-knowledge. Without knowing one\u2019s own nature, one\u2019s own essence, nobo-dy can yearn for being anything else than what they already are.<\/p>\n

And true self-knowledge is only reached through \u00aban\u00e1mnesis<\/em>\u00bb, remem-brance, Eminescu though, following Plato \u2013 but only so far. As opposed to Plato\u2019s \u00aban\u00e1mnesis<\/em>\u00bb, meant to take the soul out from the dark cave to the light, in the Morning Star<\/em> we encounter the remem-brance of a knowledge that seems to have been forgotten by a celestial being, Hy-perion, he who wished for one moment to alienate himself from his own nature. The recollection in that case has the same pur-pose as Plato\u2019s \u00aban\u00e1mnesis\u00bb<\/em>, even more so as it includes magnificent images meant to express subtle philosophical ideas about the mystery of creation: about \u00abExistence\u00bb<\/em>, \u00abNon-existence\u00bb<\/em> and the emergence of existence. Apart from the above-mentioned desire to know one\u2019s essence, we can also see a special association between for-getfulness and memory, without any con-nection to Plato\u2019s theory of \u00aban\u00e1mnesis\u00bb<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The forgetfulness-memory pair, as it appears in the poem Morning Star<\/em>, is not a stranger to the attempt to change an on-tological status. And this attempt is based on forgetting, both in the meaning of a will to forget, which is harder to overcome, and in that of involuntary straying, which is possible to overcome by \u00aban\u00e1mnesis\u00bb<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The spectacle of \u201cremembrance<\/em>\u201d as described by Mihai Eminescu by way of grand but at the same time amazingly vivid cosmogonic visions, is -however- impos-sible to find in Plato\u2019s work, because it springs from the grace the Romanian poet was generously bestowed upon.<\/p>\n

As early as the first verses describing Hyperion<\/em>\u2019s imaginary journey towards the origin of his being, we find the a-temporal thought on its way to anamnesis<\/em> \u2013 through which myriads of years last only seconds -, as well as his divine power through which the thought grows wings.<\/p>\n

Off went the Star. And as he went,<\/em><\/p>\n

His wings grew more and more<\/em><\/p>\n

And myriads of years were spent<\/em><\/p>\n

For every hour that wore<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the second stanza describing Hyperion\u2019s journey, the world \u201cabove\u201d, of the same essence with the wandering lightning of the thought, is set forth in words by the philosopher-poet in the shortest and most suggestive manner:<\/p>\n

There was a sky of stars beneath,<\/em><\/p>\n

A sky of stars o\u2019erhead \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

Like to a bolt with ne\u2019er a death<\/em><\/p>\n

Among the worlds he sped<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the \u201cfinite\u201d Hy-perion in the infinite beginnings is very much Eminescu. This is achieved by the re-view of the earliest first day. This way, Luceaf\u00e3rul <\/em>penetrates the deepest mystery of \u00a0 his being, remembering the moment when \u201cfrom the \u00a0 valleys of the pit<\/em>\u201d the whole world was born. The implacable, yet not terrifying but tender force of the yearning \u2013 everything has arisen from -, takes him through the next \u201cstages\u201d of his journey towards the origin of all beings. As in almost all cosmogonies, either in the written li-terature or in the folk tradition, primordial elements participate, under various guises, in the creation of the world: the water (as matrix) and the spirit moving over the face of the primeval waters.<\/p>\n

And from the valley of the pit<\/em><\/p>\n

He upwards spun his way;<\/em><\/p>\n

He saw how lights sprang up and lit<\/em><\/p>\n

As on the earliest day.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How like a sea they girdled him,<\/em><\/p>\n

And swam and heaved about\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

And flew and flew, an arche-borne whim,<\/em><\/p>\n

Till everything died out<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In this \u201cdeath\u201d of the yet unborn world, it seems that the very thought that thinks its emergence is lost, an image illustrated by the illusory disappointment of something that cannot be seen or known:<\/p>\n

For where he reached there was no bourne,<\/em><\/p>\n

To see there was no eye,<\/em><\/p>\n

And from the chaos to be born<\/em><\/p>\n

Time vainly made a try.<\/em><\/p>\n

The image of the chaos \u2013 preceding the beginning of the cosmogony or, in the case of Hyperion\u2019s journey pointing to its ending, is also manifest in the desire to change his ontological status that Hyperion shares with the Demiurge:<\/p>\n

From chaos come, I would return<\/em><\/p>\n

To chaos, oh, most Blessed,<\/em><\/p>\n

For out of rest eternal born<\/em><\/p>\n

I yearn again for rest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But in his journey, before reaching the Demiurge, Hyperion also passes through an eerie zone, where the waters of memory seem to melt with those of forgetfulness. To him, this zone closes the time loop beyond time, where the journey towards the origins of the world took place:<\/p>\n

And there was nothing. There was, though,<\/em><\/p>\n

A thirst that did oppress,<\/em><\/p>\n

A gaping gulf above, below,<\/em><\/p>\n

Like blind forgetfulness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At the extreme of his straying, he experienced the illusion that the sources of memory could be melted with those of forgetfulness. In his trying to descend among mortals, Hyperion even thought he was able to reach alone the border between existence and non-existence. But this had only been the image of deceit, the danger lurking for those who wish, even if for a second, to drink out of the river Lethe, \u201cblind\u201d forgetfulness.<\/p>\n

Nichifor Crainic wrote exceptional pages about Hyperion<\/em> as Cristian poem. In his terms, the above-mentioned stanza describes the unseen presence of God who is love and light and whose brilliance blinds any creature. He observed that Mihai Emi-nescu does not name Him here. \u201cOnly after the description of the ecstasy moment, Hyperion \u2013 addressing his prayer to this \u2018nothingness\u2019, to this \u2018thirst\u2019 which absorbs him, to this \u00abgaping gulf like blind for-getfulness\u00bb, calls Him: \u00abFather!\u00bb Once awakened from his ecstasy, the contem-plative mind has the definitive awareness of God\u2019s existence\u201d(See Nichifor Crainic, Mihai Eminescu<\/em>). Seeing the world being born from chaos, by divine revelation, the Poet pointed out the \u2018void\u2019, the nameless One which was at the beginning.<\/p>\n

But, according to my interpretation, it was all too obvious that, listening to the myths of the beginnings, Mihai Eminescu subtly intuited some truths later formulated by the historian of religions Mircea Eliade: the cosmogonical myth serves as archetypal model for the creation on other plane, such as the spiritual one.<\/p>\n

———————————<\/p>\n

ISABELA VASILIU-SCRABA<\/strong>\u2013 eseist, filosof, istoric al filosofiei, profesor, inginer chimist dipl. N\u0103scut\u0103 (Scraba) \u00een Bucuresti \u00eentr-o familie de intelectuali (bunicul, Teodor Scraba, a fost profesor de matematici la Liceul \u201cAron Pumnul\u201d din Cern\u0103u\u021bi; tat\u0103l, Mircea Scraba (1921-1960), om de o aleas\u0103 cultur\u0103, a fost inginer chimist \u0219i poet). C\u0103s\u0103torit\u0103 (din studen\u021bie) cu un str\u0103nepot al poetului Bacovia (socrul, avocat Maximilian Vasiliu, a fost nepot de sor\u0103 al lui Bacovia), Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba urmeaz\u0103, din clasa a VIII-a p\u00e2n\u0103 \u00een clasa a XI-a, Liceul \u201cSpiru Haret\u201d din Bucure\u0219ti (unde o are ca profesoar\u0103 de englez\u0103 pe Aurelia Voinea, fiica filosofului Mihai R\u0103dulescu\u00a0 \u0219i autoare de manuale de liceu). Ultimul an \u00eenva\u021b\u0103 la Liceul \u00abI.L. Caragiale \u00bb unde sus\u021bine bacalaureatul. Studii universitare la Facultatea de Chimie din cadrul Institutului Politehnic din Bucure\u0219ti. Studii post-universitare de filosofie la Sorbona (1988, 1991), la Universitatea Liber\u0103 din Bruxelles (1988), la Universitatea din M\u00fcnchen (1990) \u0219i la Universitatea din Nisa (1991).
\n\u00centre 1979 \u0219i 1984 lucreaz\u0103 ca inginer\u0103 chimist\u0103 la I.A.M.N. (Bucure\u0219ti). \u00centre 1985 \u0219i 1992 \u00eenva\u021b\u0103 \u00een paralel germana (5 ani), engleza (2ani), italiana (3 ani), spaniola (2 ani), latina (2 ani) \u0219i greaca veche (3 ani).
\n\u00cen 1989-1990 (sem.II) \u0219i 1990-1991 (sem.I) la Universitatea din Bucure\u0219ti, pred\u0103, ca profesor invitat, dou\u0103 cursuri despre Im. Kant. Ca profesor suplinitor pred\u0103 germana la Liceul \u201cL.Blaga\u201d din Bucure\u0219ti (1992-1993). Din 1991 particip\u0103\u00a0 la colocvii na\u021bionale \u0219i interna\u021bionale, colabor\u00e2nd cu eseuri filosofice \u00een volumele unor congrese \u0219i simpozioane interna\u021bionale.
\nA publicat peste 200 de studii, articole \u0219i eseuri de istoria ideilor, critic\u0103 literar\u0103, filosofie \u0219i istoria filosofiei \u00een diferite reviste de cultur\u0103 precum: \u201eTribuna\u201d (Cluj-Napoca), \u00een revista \u201eAcolada\u201c (Satu Mare) scoas\u0103 de poetul Radu Ulmenau, \u00een rev. \u201eDiscobolul\u201d (Alba Iulia) ,\u00a0 \u00een rev.\u00a0 \u201cOglinda Literara\u201d (Foc\u0219ani) scoas\u0103 de Gheorghe Andrei Neagu,\u00a0 \u00een rev.\u00a0 \u201cVatra Veche\u201d (T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219),\u00a0 \u00een rev. \u201cConta\u201d (Piatra Neam\u021b),\u00a0 \u201eConstela\u021bii diamantine\u201d (Craiova),\u00a0 \u201cNord Literar\u201d (Baia Mare), \u201cPoesis\u201d (Baia Mare) , \u201cViata Rom\u00e2neasc\u0103\u201d (Bucuresti),\u00a0 \u201cConvorbiri literare\u201d (Ia\u0219i),\u00a0 \u201cSteaua\u201d (Cluj-Napoca), \u201cFamilia\u201d (Oradea), \u201cAsachi\u201d (Piatra Neam\u021b ), \u201cArchaeus\u201d (Baia Mare), \u201cContemporanul-Ideea European\u0103\u201d (Bucure\u0219ti), \u201cRomania liber\u0103\u201d (pagina culturala), \u201cRevista de filosofie\u201d, \u201cArges\u201d (Pite\u0219ti), \u201cOrigini\/Romanian Roots\u201d (SUA), \u201cObservatorul\u201d (Canada), \u201cClipa\u201d (SUA), \u201cAlternativa\u201d (Canada) etc. Este membr\u0103 a Uniunii Scriitorilor din Rom\u00e2nia. Din scrierile filozofice ale Isabelei Vasiliu-Scraba, unele sunt intrate in circuitul international prin prezenta lor in marile biblioteci din SUA Italia, Germania etc si prin citarea lor in lucrari straine de specialitate.\u00a0De exemplu, scrierile despre Noica ale Isabelei Vasiliu-Scraba au fost citate intr-un doctorat sustinut in Anglia in 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Este inclusa in International Who\u2019s Who of Professional & Business Women, ABI, 2001 si in WHO\u2019S WHO IN ROMANIA 2002.<\/p>\n

Din referin\u021bele \u0219tiin\u021bifice \u00een care sunt citate scrieri ale eseistei Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/isabelavs2.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hyperion\u2019s\u00a0cosmogonic visions\u00a0as remembrance \u00a0(as Platonic \u00aban\u00e1mnesis\u00bb) \u00abThose who tell it are priests and pries-tesses\u2026.Pindar speaks of it too, and many [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34840"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34843,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34840\/revisions\/34843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianagurza.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}