Representandum and Representanda: a tragic love.

[Guest guest]

No love stories are more tragic than those

which tell of unfulfilled undying love. Such

is the love story of representation and the

represented in the human brain. How the

representandum yearns to be one with its

representanda, but all in vain. The

representation can never know the represented

in itself. Faced with this impossibility the

brain tricks itself into believing that seeing

its beloved is possessing her.

 

When the representanda is a rose, the brain accepts

that seeing a rose is never the rose in itself.

The brain can accept this, and move on, but the

affair gets tragic when it comes to representing

itself to itself. The brain cannot accept that

it would never know itself as itself. Furthermore,

both the processes of representation and the

presentatum are transparent and cannot be seen.

 

The self is a model that cannot recognize itself

as a model, unlike the case of a rose, the

representatum has not a representanda to hold or

to reject as unknowable. The self model can

perceive all representations, but cannot see

itself, therefore, it constantly confuses itself

with its contents. A blind Narcissus could not

cut a more tragic figure.

 

If you found this strange romance intriguing,

you could read more about representation. You

might not have recognized yourself as the

subject of this romance, but you are. Here is

a link where you can start:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_(psychology)

 

http://cerosoul.wordpress.com

 

http://awakefiction.wordpress.com

 

Pete