Fəlsəfə tarixi
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ving the other people saying “it is not me” first and then by perceiving the
self and his own body saying “it is me” ever since they are born into this
world.
1
If the relation that he establishes with the “other” is in the type that
he perceives the objects, and if it is of the type of relations perceived at the
first level, this case causes a possessing state, and the desire to possess is
motivated. Just as in the case of desire to possess more objects. Yet, we do
not possess people. This causes man to lose meaning as a man and as an
existence, and to estrange to the self. It should be noted that “thou” is not
something that “I” possesses. This is just a suggestion of co-exiestence
without any ideas of possessing one another.
In Gabriel Marcel’s words, the I-thou relation starts with the statement
of the wish “testify on behalf of me!” in a way or other and with a state of
facing towards.The mystery of existence, which is immanent in man, is
exactly hidden in this wish. The one who is the self searches for a witness to
this selfness. Besides, the selfness gains its meaning through this witnessing.
Therefore, existing for the human means yelling to another person. It means
calling him. In Islamic mysticism, it is thought that man comes to this world
for testifying for a person. It is believed that we come here to testify “man”
in our humanity. Our self-realization as a humanbeing is only possible thro-
ugh testifying for a person. The testifying statement, the first condition for
being a Muslim, contains the statement of testifying for the existence of a
person (testifying for the fact that the prophet is a humanbeing and a
messenger) just after the statement confirming the existence of God.
My actualising the oneness in me, or my actualising the self as a hu-
manbeing, depends on the condition that I realize the other- that is, each hu-
manbeing. When I have perceived the transcendent oneness of everybody, I
can realize my oneness and I can be myself. “Thou” is just like a mirror
showing me this transcendence. An “I” without “thou” is in complete lone-
liness. This state is a bleeding wound. He gets lost in his nihilism. The mea-
ning of all existence is emptied; because there is no longer an existence con-
1
Langan, Thomas, “Existentialism and Phenomenology in France”,
Recent Philosophy:
Hegel to the Present, New York:
Random House, 1966, p. 378,
Fəlsəfə və sosial-siyasi elmlər – 2016, № 2
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firming himself as an entity and testifying for his existence. Thus, turning
(or facing) towards a “thou” testifying for one’s existence is the first condi-
tion for communication with it and for co-existence with it. Such a turning
is reciprocal. Indeed, those mutual summons lead to
a state of friendship and
love. Love eliminates the eliminator identity of the other.
The Universe, which is the process of opening the Love itself with Lo-
ve and in Love, is the divine manifestation of the good and the beautiful. It
is the occurrence of “Love” in “love”. Hence, divine manifestation occurs in
its truest meaning in “love”. The journey is, in fact, man’s journey to and
from Love. It is a journey composed only of love. Here, the fact that man is
love may be better understood provided that it is connected to the idea that
“man’s demand is whatever he wants” in Islamic mysticism. Being love, de-
manding nothing apart from love can be considered to mean demanding no-
thing apart from God. Then, adhering to things other than love means man’s
deviation from his real ontological meaning. Man’s demand is whatever he
wants. He walks towards the demand, he walks on that demand. Thus, “man
is whatever road he chooses to pursue”.
Beside the idea that “man is the road he pursues”, which we stated ba-
sed on Islamic mysticism, we can recall Marcel’s idea that a Homo Viator
will never give up walking on his road no matter how challenging it is. Be-
cause the Homo Viator has complete confidence in the one who summons
him to that road, and thus in himself and in the road itself. Homo Viator is
an existence of hope at the same time. This traveller travelling to the ontolo-
gical mystery is not just a simple traveller. Being a traveller is the reason for
his existence. He has confidence in, love and hope for his existence and his
road.
Love is, above all, a state of inclining and facing towards. Here what
makes this facing different from others is that man can adhere to Love when
he quits all other kinds of adherence. This state of committing only to love
is, when read from the perspective of Islamic mysticism, is a state of consci-
ousness. That is to say, the state of noticing the self, the other and the one
transcendent to everything, adhering with awareness, and confirming. Love,
the tie with the other and I with no mediators, makes man a real existence