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Goethean Observation: Diffuser II

March 15, 2023 by Nicholas Hedges

Thinking about the recent observation I did on the diffuser, I was picking through the words and was struck by a few of them. This is often how these observations work; one writes a lot which will, in the main, be discarded to find just a few words that lead somewhere.

This is part of the text from the final section:

Time.

The glass holds the liquid for a period.

The shape of time.

Gives the liquid shape.

The liquid escapes the shape through its own transformation.

Resilient in its new formlessness.

The glass itself borrows its shape from the colours and reflections of its surroundings.

Clear.

Transparent.

Its form borrowing from the present and its location.

I began to think of the glass bottle as representing time; the time of our individual lives and the liquid inside as our lives, slowly evaporating via the sticks. On our passing, we leave behind a memory – like the scent we can still detect.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I began to wonder whether it was the other way round?

Perhaps the glass represents our lives and time is the liquid within, slowly evaporating. After our passing, our form remains as a memory like the glass, borrowing the light and colours from the present day surroundings.

Time leaves behind a trace – a scent.

Memory, therefore, is both the glass and the scent; a shape of borrowed reflections and faint presence.

Filed Under: Goethean Observations

© Nicholas Hedges 2006-20

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