hyparchein

Hyparchein is a Greek word that means "to be." But it does not just mean "to exist." It ambiguously means "to obtain" or "to belong." I am trying to write a paper about it but honestly do not understand it. But there is something very special about it. I've caught scent of it and am now on the trail to find out what exactly is so wonderful and so mysterious about the phrase. Where to begin this little adventure? I can atleast help you out with the context in which it is used.

So "einai" is the most basic word for "to be" and it can mean "to exist" or it can relate a subject to a verb. So- Annakin Skywalker exists. or Annakin Skywalker is a cat.

Now, hyparchein is different. It means 'obtain' or 'belong.'

The Stoics (the blessed, amazing Stoics) used hyparchein in special instances-- Let me explain--

So for them, Something can be something without existing. This makes sense if we think a little bit. A centaur does not exist, but it has being in some other way. The community that Steinbeck describes in Sweet Thursday does not exist but it has being in some other way. After all, how could I think about or talk about a Chiron or about Doc if this wasn't so? Being is a much fuller than just 'existence.' It can signify so much more.

The Stoics believe that anything that has a body (or matter) exists. But, they also believe there are things without bodies that do not exist but still have being. In other words, they still are something. Some of these things that do not have bodies and do not exist are time, place, void, and sayables (sentences...etc).

Now even within these non-existent things there are different levels of being (which is where the word hyparchein comes in- twice!). Think of time. It (arguably) does not really exist. It just structures our world- it's a measure of day and night, light and dark, movement, rotation of planets, pull of the tide... etc. It does not "exist." But we are tempted to say that the present 'exists' more than the future or the past. The present moment is the only one that we experience NOW. But we cannot say that it 'exists' more because it doesn't 'exist.'

So the stoics use the word 'hyparchein.' The present is the only part of time that 'hyparchein' (belongs or obtains).

Same thing with 'sayables' or sentences. I can say a million different things- some true or some false. But if I say, Laine is walking down the street staring at the sky- it is only true (it only obtains or belongs) if Laine is actually doing it.

There is something powerful and glorious about moments and sentences that have this elite status of obtaining or belonging separate from existing even. There is more to being than existing or not existing. There is a way 'to obtain.'

Of course the phrase 'obtain' is still ambiguous- but there is something grand about it. And I'm still trying to find out what exactly it is.

I intuitively think that a piece of art that obtained or belonged would somehow have stated or communicated some sort of content that made logical sense but only obtained or belonged because it emerged at exactly the right time in exactly the right place for exactly the right people. This convergence made it true, made it hyparchein.

Somehow the particular time in the particular place in which an artist finds himself becomes a sanctuary, a holy ground- set apart for him, from which emerges something that belongs and can be communicated as true.

Anyway, hyparchein.... interesting.