Evans Experientialism               Evans Experientialism
SEARCH THE WHOLE SITE? SEARCH CLICK THE SEARCH BUTTON

The Academy Library

The Athenaeum Library

The Nominalist Library
Athenaeum Reading Room


THE THAT WHICH IS THERE
OR
'What is 'Januseus?'
 

PISOSTEUS TAURORHUPOS (307 - 399 BC)
The philosopher of Delos
Eutrapelia of Theron a Heterai of Delphi
Translated by M. C. Emmerdahl


Copyright © aug. 2008 Jud Evans. Permission granted to distribute in any medium, commercial or non-commercial, provided author attribution and copyright notices remain intact.

Eutrapelia:

Good Day Taurorhupos! I see you are uncharacteristically and unusually  alone? Your eyes have a cast of sadness, or perchance ennui.  I detect  a melancholy aspect to your features?  You smell of rosemary - have you lain in the fields? Be of good cheer -  better by far that you should forget and smile, than that you should remember and be sad.  Take those things you consider worthy to be weighed and let the scale be inclined to that which is there to show you the truth, in order that you can enjoy the apodeictic freedom which your intellect guarantees  in the years you have left.


Taurorhupos:
You speak wise words as ever O child of Circe, for like the immortal Parmenides I am indeed preoccupied with that which is there. I had meant to invite Januseus to accompany me here to the agora today, but sadly he is unavailable. He is prostrated with belly-pain from over-indulgence in grape and grain.

He was an attendee at the Dionyssiac ceremony organised by Achaikos of Peloponnesus yestreen. According to Militiades the ceremony began in a restrained and simple manner at the beginning, but little by little became noisy and orgiastic. The enthusiasts were strolling along the central dromoi accompanied by flute, drums and forminx, eating the raw fleshes of animals and holding the self-severed phallus of Adrastos Asklepios displayed upon a plate. It is to to be burnt as a sacrifice to Dionysos.


Eutrapelia:
Will men ever learn?  Speak - but prate not of the relevance of gods to our lives,  for I believe not in spirits.  My sufferance of  blind stupidity  is close to my impatience with a stubborn mule - so tread carefully sweet Taurorhupos.  What have you got to tell me? But what of Januseus? What is this Januseus?  If you wish to please me,  then speak to me of the that which is there - the infinite riches of the cosmos.

What is this Januseus?  Is he  part of the treasure of that which is there  - or is he a artful figment of the imagination of avaricious priests?


Taurorhupos:
Let's separate the question into two and deal first wih  "who Januseus is" —  then we will address the question of "what Januseus is." Januseus is an escaped slave of Philemon who met Onesiphoros whilst in prison and was set free by him upon his release. The good Onesiphoros sent Philemon a consignment of fat lambs by way of compensation.

Eutrapelia:
I urge you to employ your sensibilities to help me remove any maidenish conditioning that makes me think I am more special than I really am. Only  when I am truly convinced that we are all as insignificant as grains of dust in the grand cosmic scheme of things, all created randomly, leading random lives, and that our existence, or lack of it , doesn't affect anything  will be I be truly content withthe  who which is  'me'  - that is the Eutrapelia you see before you.  Only with the release that certainty brings will I perhaps then able to truly feel alive as a human being.
So,  fine, noble Taurorhupos, now that it is known 'Who'  Januseus is - pray let us proceed to a consideration of  'What' Januseus is?


Taurorhupos:
The existing material body of Januseus is a temporary association of bits of  that which is there.

Eutrapelia:
You mean that Januseus is a conglomerate of bits of the that which is there surrounded by the rest of the that which is there?


Taurorhupos:
Well, if we accept that the that which is there of 'being there' is the material world in which the being represented in the language of the barbarians is said to abide and as the place where Januseus abides, then Januseus is actually constituted of bits of that which is there which he has accumulated by absorption whilst being there in the world as a collection of minute portions of that which is there itself. Remember that to the human mind the cosmos represents the ultimate that which is there. It is inconceivable that there exists another that which is there - other than the cosmos. Thus the notions of HERE and THERE merge as perceived locative, spatial, positional, existential modalities of mankind.

Eutrapelia:

You mean that physically there exists no difference between Januseus and the that which is there of the world?


Taurorhupos:

There is an obvious difference in the way that the entity Januseus appears when sensed by other sentient creatures( who are also accumulates of that which is there) when compared to themselves or other entities of the that which is there, and there is also a difference too in the way that the entity Januseus senses his own experience of being the individuate Januseus. However, as far as the molecular fabric of Januseus' body is concerned, if it were rendered down, or decomposed to its constituent elementals both mineral and chemical, they would be found to be no different from that which comprised the box in which his dust was contained and the table upon which the casket rested.


Eutrapelia:

From whence did that which constitutes the pile of dust that once was Januseus originate?


Taurorhupos:

From the swirling particulate that constitutes the dust clouds of the universe - Januseus is a creature of the stars like the rest of us animalia.


Eutrapelia:

How did Januseus accumulate this stardust particulate and convert it into the corporeal substance that became part of the body of that portion of the that which is there that comprises the entity which we call Januseus?


Taurorhupos:

Apart from those cells which were initially donated by Januseus' parents, all the material which Januseus has collected from the surrounding  that which is there.[the cosmos] of which our world is a part, was obtained by consuming food and liquids, initially as alimentation and nutriments to be burnt as fuel to provide energise the that which is there, but some of the input was converted into additional and  replacement cells and thus became part of the holonic physical structure of Januseus himself.


Eutrapelia:

So Januseus consists of various quantum materials picked up along the way in the form of food?

Taurorhupos:

Well,... yes... there are also some hard Asian resin fillings in his teeth which are parts of that which is there which Januseus' Chalcedonic dentists appropriated and stuck inside Januseus' mouth.  But generally speaking... yes... Januseus is a collective — a macro-community of particulate made up of that which forms part of the that which is there. In that sense Januseus can be said to be as much part of  that which is there. as anything else in the that which is there which we call the world.

During the various symposiums for example Januseus always makes a point of homing in and gorging himself upon the tasty anaklintra. At the beginning we are served a glass of wine mixed with oinomelo and also bread. After that the dishes of the menu appear, in the right order: several appetisers and also fruit. Then fresh fish and meat is the last to be served. Of these materials Januseus consists — upon their life-giving substances he thrives — he is an amalgam of the various quantum materials picked up along the way in the form of food — initially at his mother's breast — but later at the interminable feasts and ceremonies with which [being attractive and desirable] he fills his dissolute life?


Eutrapelia:

What about Januseus' excretions?


Taurorhupos:

It goes back to the that which is there. [in a reconstituted form] from whence it came.


Eutrapelia:

When you say: " the that which is there."  what exactly do you mean — to what do you refer?


Taurorhupos:

I refer to that which forms the  substance of the material universe.


Eutrapelia:

But isn't the word 'there' used when we speak of a location — of an object being THERE in that present location; that other place — in a far country, or on a far planet, rather than in  THIS place HERE.


Taurorhupos:

The molecular quantum materials and miniature forcefields of the universe are no respecters of man-made locational notions of HERE and THERE. Like the Lappish aboriginals of the frozen north who walk upon snow with netted pattens and follow horned cows with bush-like structures upon their heads, the cosmic singularities are no respecters of man-made division and cross territorial borders as they wish.  Our earth is constantly bombarded with transient 'foreign' molecules from outer space, and bathed in a constant cascade of electrons. What formed part of the that which is there of the tail of the comet Ctesippus yesterday is part of our earthly 'that which is there today and breathed into the human chest-bellows, which we call our lungs. All this material change is reflected in the constitution of Januseus' body.


Eutrapelia:

Does Januseus' body remain the same aspect of the  that which is there whilst Januseus remains alive — or does it change?


Taurorhupos:

Physically speaking there is a completely new replacement of the that which is there that is Januseus every seven years — the elements that make up his body are gradually dispensed with and replaced by other elements that are there over that period. Upon his death the tiny building blocks of that which is there will find their way into new entitic structures — or they will remain alone as lonely wanderers in the deep reaches of the far-flung cosmos.


Eutrapelia:

But people such as Januseus appear to me to be the same old individuals from year to year — they get a little bit more wrinkled as time goes by — but essentially they are the  same persons — they never forget my name or the children's birthdays.


Taurorhupos:

Sadly the mechanisms of cellular replication start to deteriorate over time, Januseus is gradually losing his ability to faithfully reproduce cells with the material he is ingesting [in spite of the vast amounts of food he assimilates] to replace the old ones. It is rather like endlessly copying a wall mural or the illustration on a vase from a copy — the copies start to degrade — the detail is lost — and if persisted with the copies would eventually bear no resemblance to the original master copy of the that which is there.

Have I convinced you that Januseus is in fact composed of material, which he has garnered and stored from the there of the cosmic environment in which he finds himself?


Eutrapelia:

Yes, I am convinced Taurorhupos — we now know WHO and WHAT Januseus is — what he is made of  ...and what about TIME...does it exist for Januseus - for the that which is there...for you — for me in the same way? And what about CHANGE? If the universal there is all material, how can physical events take place if there is no SPACE  betwixt the that which is there  where entities can expand or grow?


Taurorhupos:

One question at a time dear Eutrapelia, I promise you an explanation when we meet at the house of Eusipos in five nights time. But afore we go,  I gently place this thought in your head that you may dwell upon until the feast.  Neither time nor space exist as parts of the that which is there.
It is not time and space that exists,  but those portions of the that which is there that we call humans, who have invented such useful fictions in order that they might bring order to the that which is there which they perceive as being disordered and chaotic
Thus time and space bespeak of the way that humans exist and not the fictions time and space themselves.

But hist!  The sun has already declined beneath
the roof of yon Philopappos Monument which crowns the Mouseion Hill, and the raucous evening crowds are already thronging along The Street of the Tripods which leads from The Sanctuary of Dionysos around the east and northeast sides of the Acropolis. They go to the tripods to pay homage to the choregos, and to consign the poor ruined penis of Adrastos Asklepios to the gods and  so must you and I go too - if we have any respect left regarding our religious duty and the rituals of the choregia? We will anoint our feet with this pungent oil squeezed by Acharnanian dwarves from the bodies of tiny yellow cephalopods, and take up our staffs and join the celebrants.

I kiss thee Xaire fair Eutrapelia!


The Athenaeum Library


BACK TO TOP OF PAGE