06-04-2014, 12:23 PM
"actually, since there is no actual place located either beyond or between longing and despair, it makes no difference."
Actually there is a place, it is a mental image/construct of two opposing emotional states. A more trite, but similar expression would be torn between love and duty. The statement says that the speaker is experiencing two distinct emotional states. Longing for what he has lost, and despair that she will not return. Longing carries with it the aspect of "hope", so it makes these two emotions somewhat antithetical. When one is crucified, the muscles in the arms eventually become so weak that the person cannot get a breath without pushing upward with ones feet. At some point the muscles give out and the person suffocates. So crucifixion exemplifies the back and forth the speaker is feeling between these two emotions. This is a metaphor, and all metaphors are ultimately false, but useful in describing non-physical events.
Another point, as English is largely an idiomatic language we rarely speak in anything but abstractions.
"What's up?
"How's it going?"
"You feeling OK?"
"I will die if I don't get this job."
"I'm so mad I could rip off his head and shove it down his throat!"
"You're gonna be late."
"trueenigma, you would argue with a fence post".
and the ultimate abstraction: "Cogito ergo sum!"
I would like to dissect this longer, but it's late and I still owe Mercedes a response, which will already have to wait, but thanks for the dialogue.
Dale
Actually there is a place, it is a mental image/construct of two opposing emotional states. A more trite, but similar expression would be torn between love and duty. The statement says that the speaker is experiencing two distinct emotional states. Longing for what he has lost, and despair that she will not return. Longing carries with it the aspect of "hope", so it makes these two emotions somewhat antithetical. When one is crucified, the muscles in the arms eventually become so weak that the person cannot get a breath without pushing upward with ones feet. At some point the muscles give out and the person suffocates. So crucifixion exemplifies the back and forth the speaker is feeling between these two emotions. This is a metaphor, and all metaphors are ultimately false, but useful in describing non-physical events.
Another point, as English is largely an idiomatic language we rarely speak in anything but abstractions.
"What's up?
"How's it going?"
"You feeling OK?"
"I will die if I don't get this job."
"I'm so mad I could rip off his head and shove it down his throat!"
"You're gonna be late."
"trueenigma, you would argue with a fence post".
and the ultimate abstraction: "Cogito ergo sum!"
I would like to dissect this longer, but it's late and I still owe Mercedes a response, which will already have to wait, but thanks for the dialogue.
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.