Welcome Friends. Hello, My Name Is

by Mark Phillips on December 15, 2024

“I look for you everywhere and so, find you in every text, every experience, every encounter.” Beatrice? Maybe. Or Keggerman. But never Kellerman. The next question to ask is why would one want to befriend wisdom. There is an other. And a self. Only if there’s a desire. To engage. The engagement can take years. Starting first with a sighting across the room. Or a feeling there must be this out there (since there’s a feeling, an experience in here). Then approachment. A dance. A dialogue. Flirting, dating, fighting, disavowal: engagement. Renewal. Aging. Renewal: to ask what is Philosophy. Called out the desire is no less an acceptable motivation. Make peace with it. Some people like strawberries. Others prefer bread. Everyone needs water. But not everyone likes it. And to be a friend of wisdom doesn’t make wisdom your colleague. It doesn’t have to be a work friend. We can have many other work friends. Still. And be dear to wisdom, wisdom dear to you. “Beatrice? Is that you? I can almost hear you. It’s distant. Say something again.” Her mother. Or Keggerman remembering.

Other words: is it shareable? Is it a block of wood laid claim by many trades? Shareable, since it lives in our minds and our hearts. On paper, in idea in conception. Non shareable, since it stems from my desire. In my heart. My friend alone. Known only to me, with its intensity. “My love is mine all mine.” We can talk about our relationship with alcohol, drink together. Share drink recipes. Frequent the same bars. Drink the same brands. But at the core, my relationship is very personal. Mine, all mine. All me. The shareable could be AA. For addicts who admit. For recovery. For those who seek communion to guard against too deep an attachment. Desire. Control, and communicate with others. Who seek control. The will to communicate -to other addicts then, to others, a wider audience -dilutes. Dilutes? No longer sharing recipes, only stories. “Let’s talk about my work friend.” “Have you heard?” “This happened at work today.” “Can you believe it?” “Look at the stock price, that corporate move, that memo.” Kellerman? Yes, Kellerman.

EXCAVATION