GED101:Phenomenological paper: Of Hands and Handholding, Edward Lim
Page 61:
the story begins with a hand described as fragile and frail, holding out for another hand, the hand of the protags wife, they've held hands a million times and although those were feelings of warmth just like whats happening right now, the difference is its a hand of a dying man holding on to his wife. The hands which were once youthful are now exposed to the elements, while the other could only wait till fate happens.
“the world and hands, life and hands, I and my hands” From my understanding “hands” symbolizes connection and in this quote it means that connections are what bridge us to everything around us, our personal lives, and our identity.
Page 62:
The world and hands
When a person opens their palms, such as lovers holding hands, beggars extending palms, or reaching out for something, it is a perfect example for life, more specifically the connection between the world and man. The world is the totality of man’s life, without man, the world would be empty, every single action man takes, continues the progression of the world. If we were to explain man it would be “inner stimuli” Why? because the exterior is the expression of the interior, our actions are guided by our own desires, intentionsm or goals. Our actions are part of ourselves so failing to understand, or misinterpreting our external actions make it harder to connect with the world
so in the first paragraph of page 62, it highlights how man and world are interconnected and mans external actions are influenced by a greater motive, failure to understand the external action results in misinterpretation of internal actions, making it harder for us to connect and since the collective life of man influences mans world it is important to understand our fellow man.
Life and hands
What is the relevance of hands to man “if i have hands, my hands are me” it is a part of me as a whole, a whole is never a whole if it doesn’t have its parts, therefore without connections i am not “me”/who I am today. If I begin to exist without these parts I would still be whole, but this whole would be different from the whole that is complete. We can say that existence without hands is still a whole, but it is vastly different from a whole cocnstituted or supplemented by the having of hands. Hands create a unique experience, it gives a different kind of “wholeness”
in the second paragraph, it shows how life and hands are connected. Experiences shape our lives, through connections we gain a unique type of experience or life , it can be thought as a “whole” our whole (life) is only complete through parts (experiences) and through connections do we get these parts. A life without connections can still be a whole but it will vary significantly when compared to a life of connections (meaningful)
I and my hands
What happens if your life was accompanied with handed wholeness but lose it down your life? Are you still the same whole? in a sense of hands, no you aren’t the same anymore, but as a being you are still the same. The whole period with hands doesn’t affect your being. The shift from having to losing doesn’t change me. I am because I was; I will be because i am. My hands and my experiences with or without shape my identity. Thats what makes experiences unique from one another
In this final paragraph for page 62 it talks about how connections and your being are intertwined. If you had these connections and experiences, and you were to lose it does that make you any less you? No, you’re still you because of what you had, you’ve already “gone through” it, with or without it it shapes our identity and thats what makes everyone unique from one another.
Page 63:
A continuation on I and my hands (and merging with other 2 points)
I am because i was, and i will be because I am. Beyond this, i am because i am in this world, and the world of others. Experiences are things unique to people, but existence isn’t only shaped by myself but is shaped by the experiences around me (to an extent connections and “hand”) Just like the dying man extending his hands for the last time, and the lovers holding hands in luneta: it represents connection / deeper intimate connection because these connections between 2 people are a result of the two recognizing and being aware of the other, and since both are in the world, their connections contribute to man’s world. When I open my hands to caress a girl, my hands become a bridge between my reality and her reality, connections allow us to bridge into others lives. my hand is me, not anyone elses. Me opening my hands for her is an explicitation of myself
connections are what brdige 2 peoples lives together, allowing them to understand eachother (world and hands) and by creating these meaningful connections do we contribute to man’s world. The connections we make reflect our own character. BY opening ourselves to connections we allow ourselves to express more clearly, making us “understandable” to others
Understanding the inner and outter stimuli
If i were to pull my girl into my arms, it shows either a sign of love, agressiveness, or ungentle manliness,or protectiveness. The action itself is an expression of the self but the external action may be misinterpretted. Grabbing her is a manifestation of emotion but the manifefstation itself can hold many meanings such as love, anger, jealousy. But if I were to be holding her at this very moment, what is it that i want to show? With love can i not just love her without holding her hands during courtship? If we were to say that its a sign of love then does that mean my love is only manifested through physical contact? No, maybe it is a bond or “dialogue” between the two that only they undertand..
Just like in the first part of this reading explaining that a being can be understood as inner stimuli influencing the external stimuli, this part goes deeper into that idea. Any action we have is a manifestation of our emotion, but this manifestation could have different interpretation for others. Furthermore it plays with the idea that love isn’t something that is physical acts alone such as holding hands the reason for its expression of love is through connection, a unique “language” and bond shared between the lovers.
Page 63-64: last paragraph
Love and hand holding
Love is a spiritual act whose manifestation is not a neccesity. These physical acts like hand holding has turned into how people “represent love” but love is not just physical affection, beyond physical acts love is a spiritual act, above all else love is a spiritual act while manifestation (physical affection) is a secondary thing. But how can I, as a person be sure i am capable of love without manifesting it? If the subject of my love is within my limits, how do i show love without holding her hand? Because this “token” of love, would it not just show animality? Hand-holding is basically an animal impulse (for comfort, control etc) But by making spiritual acts the “reason” for hand holding, we go above animality beacuse it gives this act more meaning, more binding, and more lasting.
(if spiritual acts are the force found in marriages then the opposite can be said about prostitution for the participants are drawn together by other circumstances except love..the absense of which makes animality rise above humanity)
To follow up in the paragraph before this, love can be differenciated into two distinct things, spiritual, which is the connection between the two lovers, and manifestations of love which is the expression like physical affection. People sometimes see the manifestations of love as the only representation of love, with that in mind if our manifestations are on a whim and without any reason such as a deeper spiritual connection then we are no different than animals. So this spiritual connection is what seperates these acts as human and animalistic
Judgement:
To understand the internal (manifestation of emotion) and external (expressions) It mustn’t be oversimplified to cause and effect. Every event is made of smaller events that cause it, just like how the air around us is made of countless elements. In order to understand the relationship between the two we must look at the world as is, and see the world as a phenomenon see the connection as a phenomenon. We cant per se explain these phenomenon but it can be described like loving a girl. I must suspend all judgement and see it sujectively but its difficult to judge it as smoething like “understandable and without a doubt” since it is something that we cant interact with.