Paradise is out of reach| Borges

∞ Borges Talk, 2014

Borges at Eighty

Conversations，1982

Translated × Borges Nishikawa

The Republic of China | Guangxi Normal University Press

Paradise is out of reach

10. Excerpt from "I Always Have Fear in the Mirror"

The Nightmare，That Tiger of the Dream

Indiana University, April 1980

Indiana University，April 1980

Borges:...... I am also a good citizen of Argentina, and the Argentine Republic is part of the world.

KOFA: That's not what everyone thinks.

Borges: What's part of that? Is it part of hell? Part of Purgatory?

KOFA: Probably.

Borges: Paradise?

KOFA: No, it's not paradise.

Borges: No, not paradise, of course not. Paradise is out of reach, or doesn't exist at all. Hell is always with us, or most of the time. Of course it's not here today.

KOFA: So, how should Schopenhauer be interpreted correctly? What attracted you from an early age?

Borges: Schopenhauer wrote that, if I remember correctly, he had only one thought: Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (the world of will and appearance).

The shortcut to explaining this idea should be found in the two pleasant books he wrote. That's the shortcut, he said. I don't know of any other shortcuts. But what I've been talking about is really Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. Of course I have to clarify, because in the case of these few words they do not explain anything.

Schopenhauer's statement about Wille is, of course, the same as Bergson's élan vital, or what George Bernard Shaw called "life force." They all say the same thing. As for Vorstellung (appearance), in my opinion it is the same as the Buddhist "maya", that is, illusion. That is to say, things do not have an essence, but only exist as phenomena.

As far as Schopenhauer is concerned, I think I have read his books all my life because he is an attractive writer. Philosophers don't have to be tempting. But before Kant and Hegel, philosophers were good at writing, and later they developed their own terminology. And in the past, Plato was a brilliant writer, St. Augustine was a brilliant writer, Descartes was a brilliant writer, and later of course Locke, Hume, Berkeley, they were also excellent writers. The same goes for Schopenhauer. But today's philosophy seems to have become inextricably linked to some clumsy terminology.

Before Kant and Hegel, philosophers were good at writing, and later they developed their own terminology. And in the past, Plato was a brilliant writer, St. Augustine was a brilliant writer, Descartes was a brilliant writer, and later of course Locke, Hume, Berkeley, they were also excellent writers. The same goes for Schopenhauer.

—Translated by Borges | Nishikawa

—Reading and Rereading—

The Republic

Caption: Labyrinth Borges

By Nik Ad Via saatchiart.com