Thank you to everyone who joined for this session!

For this session we close-read the poem Baruch Spinoza by Jorge Luis Borges, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was: “In the margins of the manuscript, leave a message for the philosopher.”

More details on this session will be posted, so check back!

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Please join us for our next session Wednesday November 10th at 5pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

Baruch Spinoza by Jorge Luis Borges

Bruma de oro, el occidente alumbra
la ventana. El asiduo manuscrito
aguarda, ya cargado de infinito.
Alguien construye a Dios en la penumbra.
Un hombre engendra a Dios. Es un judío
de tristes ojos y de piel cetrina;
lo lleva el tiempo como lleva el río
una hoja en el agua que declina.
No importa. El hechicero insiste y labra
a Dios con geometría delicada;
desde su enfermedad, desde su nada,
Sigue erigiendo a Dios con la palabra.
El más pródigo amor le fue otorgado,
el amor que no espera ser amado.

Baruch Spinoza by Jorge Luis Borges

A haze of gold, the Occident lights up
The window. Now, the assiduous manuscript
Is waiting, weighed down with the infinite.
Someone is building God in a dark cup.
A man engenders God. He is a Jew
With saddened eyes and lemon-colored skin;
Time carries him the way a leaf, dropped in
A river, is borne off by waters to
Its end. No matter. The magician moved
Carves out his God with fine geometry;
From his disease, from nothing, he's begun
To construct God, using the word. No one
Is granted such prodigious love as he;
The love that has no hope of being loved.
         


Spanish; trans. Willis Barnstone