Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

The question that Elizabeth posed at the end of lecture today was, "does the play [The Good Person of Szechuan] help tear down the notion that the self is intrinsic? And if so is that useful?" I think that one of the things in my life that has helped in the long involved process of removing myself from an inwardly focused state and into one of general in-touched-ness (although it hadn't occured to me to look at it this way until now) is participating in religious ritual. One of the things that I do in the mornings- I explained this to about half a dozen people today while talking about my winter project- is wrap tefillin. What are two small leather boxes, one that is tied to the head and one that is tied to the arm. One of the blessing that is traditionally recited while wearing them is, "ידאת את יה-ה" which means, "I will know my lord" know meaning in the biblical sense. So wrapping tefillin is a way to know G-d in the flesh. Because the Jewish concept of G-d is not as a corporeal being, but as some universal all encompassing concept that permeates an inhabits all things both living and inanimate, this also means that wrapping tefillin is a way to connect to the universal contentiousness, and hence a way to detach from notions of an inherent individual self.

One of the blessings that is said during the morning prayer is, "מטבו אהלך יעכב משקנותךא ישרל" which means, "how good are your dwellings Jacob, and your tents oh Israel." (not Israel the country, this is from before there was such a thing) the word mishkenotekha meaning your tents is an anagram of Shekhina (I know it's not in English but it is in Hebrew, just trust me on this one) which is the "feminine" aspect of G-d, and it means the presence of G-d. So, this prayer is intended to call to mind the image of the world as a tent we dwell in with the presence of the eternal. This can also be an image of the collective consciousness, and an image in which there is no individual self.