[Xmca-l] Lloyd Alexander on becoming (and Heidegger?)

[Greg Thompson]

I didn't want to hijack mike's thread but his comment reminds me of Lord
Dallben's line to the Princess Eilonwy as she sets off on a quest (from
Lloyd Alexander's children's classic Castle of Llyr) and which seems to
point to the paradox* of being and becoming:

"For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are."

And this to the notion of "becoming" - perhaps someone out there could help
me with the literature on "becoming"?

(I would add that Heidegger is quite critical of "becoming" - He has a
quote about us becoming "who we already are" - I'm not entirely sure that I
understand Heidegger's point - perhaps someone can help).

-greg


*NB: this is paradoxical only if one understands being as a self-contained
thing. If being is social and caught up with others, then the paradox would
be flipped - how is it that being could possible remain constant if social
contexts are constantly changing. That seems perhaps the more serious
question to ask.



-- 
Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson