Existence is Encounter. Meeting at the limen. In the limen, the masks disappear, that is, the basic intuitions of identities, such as the identity that I feel and think in relation to the tree that I see in front of me. The identity of the tree is a projection of mine: the unity of my process of perceiving the tree generates a mask in me, the ghost of a limited unity separated from everything else.
The simplest form of intuitive understanding of masks and limen is given to us by numbers. Numbers intuitively express the liminal tension that is Existence. A little etymological note. Rythmos in Greek means flow. Arythmos (number) is what does not flow, what remains solidified. Numbers express the liminoid, and flow, rhythm, expresses the liminal. A rhythm becomes liminoid when we can trace patterns in it, that is, when we can construct masks of identities.
Mathematics has spoken of flow using the Latin word “continuum”, the continuous. All modern science, since Leibniz and Newton, is based on differential calculus, which is a science of the continuum. In the 19th century, starting with Cauchy, Weistrass and Cantor, the continuum was transformed into a science of the limit in relation to aggregates of identity (sets), the mathematical formulation of the theory of liminalityand the infinite. Without this science there would be no Riemaniann geometry, that is, there would be no theory of relativity, no quantum theories, no cosmology. The curious thing is that, at the same time, the theory of the continuum dynamites any physical science, since the “principle of identity”, on which any notion of material Existence is based, is blown up. But let's return to the psychological understanding of limen from numbers.
The perception of space and time gives rise to the series of natural numbers: 1,2,3,4,5... These numbers are masks or identities that in principle seem well defined based on intuition, like the identity that I feel and I think in relation to the tree that I see in front of me. I can say “1 tree,” and I can count. Starting from a superstition deeply rooted in the simplicity of this first intuition, I think I can count anything. Can I? How many drops of water are there in a liter bottle? The answer from our science is clear: 20,000. Well, approximately. Approximately means that I need another type of number to count them, rational numbers (numbers that have decimals). The approximation takes a finite number of decimal places, which is not necessarily the case, in fact: it is not the case. Why? Because measuring space is measuring the continuum, that is, entering the fabulous world of real numbers. Real numbers are irrational numbers, numbers that do not have a finite identity explicit in terms of natural numbers. Real numbers are not really numbers (they are not “a-rythmos” but “rythmos”, flow, they are non-finite entities. Saying 20,000 drops is an approximation to a real number, an infinite entity. You may think, well, but it's enough for us to function. Yes, it is valid to build a form of human life like the one we have built in the modern world... well no, computers do not work with real numbers, they cannot perform infinite processes. Computers work with approximations of rational numbers.
The continuum is not only a question of a problem with the measurement of space and time, but a problem of the principle of identity: the identities of our concepts and our perceptions are commonplace. With an example of something we use every day.
What is a liter? We ask the physicist, who knows about these complex things. He tells us: “hmmm, I don't know what it is exactly, I would rather say that it is an agreement or unit of measurement, but I can tell you that it is equivalent to 1.000 cm3.” Well, we ask him then: what is the agreement based on? What is a centimeter, or a meter, if you prefer? He answers us: “the distance that light travels in a vacuum in an interval of 1/299.792.458 seconds.” Hmmmm… so many problems. In order not to go on forever in circles, let's assume that such a number is not an irrational and that we take as "intuitive" the definition of “a second” that science would give us based on the entity known as the "cesium atom." But what to say about emptiness? What is a vacuum?: “A region of space devoid of energy and momentum.” That means space without particles or other physical fields, that is, something that is not in the Universe. Well, our agreements for measurement ultimately refer to concepts about entities that are not in the Universe. And our conceptual tools in relation to space. i.e. geometry, are based on entities that are not in the Universe, points.
The identity of all our measurements is liminal. The identity of the concepts we use to measure is liminal. The identity of the Universe is liminal. The liminoid, the uncritical common, the everyday life are a protective veil of our identity masks. You are immersed in phantasmagoria, but you continue to take them literally, even after knowing about it. That is your game, the Lila that the entire Universe plays.
