I am listening to Professor Drefus' Heidegger Lectures on my ipod. The leading Heidegger expert in the world, this one man pretty much trained all the Americans who have ever written books on Heiddeger. He is also a practioner of philosophy in the Continental tradition-- a lonely endeavor in a country where analytic philosophy reigns supreme (See this post on Hannah Arendt). To say he is brilliant is an understatement as he is the most brilliant person I have ever met.
Drefus was the sole reason I wanted to go to Berkeley in fact-- and indeed his classes are interestingly all I can recall of my time there. I cannot remember any other names or books I read-- it is all a hazy blank.... In his first lecture-- which I am re-listening to after 20 years!-- he cautions the students: "Don't take anything else hard if you are taking this class because you won't have any neurons left!"
Maybe that's what happened to me. So engaged, engulfed and absorbed was I in Heidgger's philosophy that I guess there wasn't much else for me to be capable of processing! People, of course, say that the mind is limitless-- but my experiences in Berekely and then when I was trying to master Japanese have shown me that at least in my own case-- I have my limits!
Twenty years have passed and yet how vividly I recall those lectures-- from the reading to Dreyfus and Spinoza's voices... the people in the discussions. Those were among the happiest times of my life. And perhaps Heidegger's philosophy was the sole philosophy that really influenced the way I perceive the world.
Guita would say of Dreyfus: "He talks about Heidegger like he is talking about a lover." With all that Persian love poetry, sometimes I think Persians can find love anywhere-- even in Being and Time.
And yet, listening again twenty years later, yes, he does approach Heidegger like a lover.
"Heidegger," he says, "remains the single most important influence on Continental Philosophy."
"Every major philosopher active today has his or her base in Heideggerean thought-- whether they reject or embrace it, none can ignore Heidegger"
"Even Foucault," he says triumphantly," on his deathbed acknowledged his debt-- and his love-- of Heidegger."
Heideggerean philosophy also has a continuing "Japan Connection." Not only does Japanese thought and culture play a role in Heidegger's works, but Heideggerean philosophy was to have a profound resonance within Japan itself, taken up with a passion by both Buddhist and European-style philosophers alike.
I remember so vividly Dreyfus talking about Heidegger's philosophy of technology. He used the Japanese Tea Ceremony to illustrate his point. I had never thought much about Japan-- much less about Tea Ceremony. But after the lecture, I was intrigued and wandered down Telegraph Avenue to Shambala Booksellers. Indian flute music was hypnotizing me as I stumbled through the sandalwood incense smoke over to the small "Japan" bookshelf. And, there I found the classic book on tea ceremony, written by Okakura Teshin, The Book of Tea. In a complete daze at that point, I quickly purchased the book, the Indian flute CD and the incense and headed home.
It would have a profound impact on my life-- the book, that is.
Twenty years... it's a long time. Dreyfus is now in his seventies. And yet, to listen to his voice, still so full of passion for his subject, is something that comforts me. It also heartens and encourages me.
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On a different note, I read that Shambala booksellers closed. That is hard news to take. Even in Berkeley, it seems, the independednt bookstores are being driven out by the chain booksellers.
The painting above is from Alchi. When a book on the murals came out years ago I debated back and forth buying it as it was rather expensive. Oh, I could kick myself for not taking the plunge since now it is used selling for over $150 and $950 on Amazon-- a ticket to India costs less than that!
Alchi, of course, is a place I would very much like to see one more time.
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