Limitations and Transcendence

Introduction

This lesson will discuss about the limitations imposed by our body as an embodied subject;
and how we could go around or transcend these said limitations as a way of living.

Facticity

An embodied subject is a being who is to be in this world. Where “to be in this world,” is to
be born and live in this physical world; and the moment someone is born in this world is the same
moment where his/her first limitation/s appears. When we are born, we are given things like
gender, color, parents, genes, social status, as well as disabilities for some; which can be sources of
our limitations. These “given things” in our lives is what a French philosopher, Jean Paul Sarte, calls
facticity.

According to Sarte, facticity refers to the things already given to us the moment we are born
and the details or environment surrounding us in our lives such as language and past decisions.
However, how can facticity be a source of our limitations? Those who were born with disabilities
such as blindness could not be able to do what a seeing person could, which is seeing where seeing
is essential for things like reading, drawing and recognizing peers. Additionally, someone born to be
in a poor social class will have more limitations than those who are born rich, such that they could
not buy things they want and need mindlessly, they could not travel to the same places rich people
can.

After evaluating our possible limitation imposed to us the moment we are born until now, it
can be described as countless. Thus, it can be concluded that being in this world will always have
limitations caused by our facticity of our very existence.

Spatial-Temporal Being

The moment we were born and exist in particular time and place also sets limitations. On
the aspect of Temporality (temporality refers to time), the most obvious limitation we have is our
finitude. Finitude refers to the finite quantity state, or simply our mortality. We recognize our
morality and accept that we will not live forever. That there will be a time that we will die, we have
limited period in this world and that is a fact. We deal with the past, present, and future as temporal
beings, we consider our actual experience of the past, present and the future.

When we were younger there are so many not yet which prevents us from doing what
adults seem to enjoy. Not allowed to eat certain food, drinks, wear particular clothes and even go to
places. So the lack of time in the sense of youth poses limitations on us. We feel that we are being
restricted by the older ages (parents)from doing the things that we want to do. However, this is our
being embodied that prevents us from doing thing---- we are not yet prepared to do such activities
or not yet appropriate for us. On the other hand, those who are older in age will also experience
limitations in different way. Their age could also prevent them from doing things they want to do.
There are so many no longer for them. They are not allowed to eat certain food, drinks, wear
particular clothes and even go to places. And just like the youth, they feel like they being prevented
by the younger ages from (children) doing the things that they like to do. And again, however, they
will realize their being embodied that prevents them from doing a lot of things--- because their
body is no longer capable of doing such activities since they are already old.

Thus this drive the distinctive limitations of not yet (youth) and no longer (adult). Both
young and the adult have different kind of limitations that hinders them from doing things they
want to do. For both instances, it is the body that sets this limitation.

On our spatial level of being, spatial means relating to space, our bodies are only limited to
being on only one place at a given time, we do not have the ability to be in two places at the same
time. Those who experience this spatial limitations the most are oversees Filipino worker, being not
able to be with their families due to them being required to work far away from their families.
Another example is those couples who are in a long distance relationship, longing to be by each
other but can’t due to spatial limitations. However, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina or Padre Pio was said to
defied physics by being present at two places at the same time on many different occasions. The act
of being in two places at the same time is known as bilocation.

On the terms of understanding, our spatial-temporal situation limits our understanding of

the world. The time and place we exist right now influenced the way we look at things and the way
we understand things, which is evident of someone’s age or culture. We could not really see the
world objectively due to our perspective being tainted by spatial and temporal conditions.

The Body as Intermediary

The body as intermediary is another source of limitations that arise out of an embodied
subject. It is established that we are our body but we are also something beyond our body. Simply
put, our body is the link or mediator between us and the physical world. As a result, my body shows
a particular viewpoint of my world, I only experience the world as my own and not of others. In a
sense, I can dream to live as a millionaire, yet I can never really experience it unless I become one
myself. In other words, I can never be you as you can never be me.

Through my body I can communicate with others, but in order to express my thoughts and
feelings I need use words or bodily gestures. Words and gestures are great tools for communicating
yet, they are limiting. We cannot truly express what we feel or share with words alone. For instance
saying “I love you” to your long-time, he/she may regard your statement as an act of friendship
instead of something beyond that. Hence, sometimes we think that words fail us, that our body
restricts us from communicating what we really want to express.

As much as we want to express our true thoughts to others, there are time that we also want
to hide what we are really thinking and feeling from others. This may be an advantage, yet can also
cause confusion, was what she said true or not?; Thus, the difficulty in discerning if the words
conveyed are actually true to one’s actual sentiment results to lying and deception. We may never
know if what he/she said was pure sarcasm or not unless they said it.

Transcending Limitations

After addressing all limitations let us now see how we can transcend or overcome these
limitations

a.) Facticity, we can never truly change our facticity, but we could change our attitude towards
them. The problem is, we let facticity define who we are, blinding us from seeing that the one who
truly defines who we are is us. This is our historicity, which means we are history-making creatures
that we are not limited to what nature has given us. However, people years ago did not realized
their historicity because of their special-temporal limitations.

Today, people claim that they don’t have any choice hence why they did this or that. For
instance, a student may claim that he had no choice but to study in a particular school because his
parents told so. Yet looking closely, there was never really an absent of choice, the student simply
ignored a more challenging path, that is saying and defending what he really wants. Hence, to
overcome our facticity we must look at it as a challenge for us, to be more creative among our life
options.

b.) Spatial-Temporal.

On our temporal level, we put too much concerns over our past and future that we
completely neglect our present hence limiting us to do what we want. However, to transcend our
temporal limitations is to simply appreciate or value our present, let go of the past, and worry about
the future when that future is now our present. Do not spend too much time on things which are
not yet and pay attention to what we have now. In this sense, being temporal really imposes
limitations but a challenge to make the most of our lives.

On our spatial level, people are saddened by the fact that they cannot go to the places they
want to be in an instant. Hence, they wait in sorrow and loneliness until their body drifts to the
place they want to be in. To transcend such limitation is much like on our temporal level, we are
challenge to value where we at now, value the things present in our space right now instead of
regretting everything when those things are no longer present. When at a party, do not sulk around
because your partner is not there and that you want to go with her, instead make the most out of
the moment and enjoy yourselves.

c.) Body as Intermediary

The body as an intermediary is a source of limitation because we don’t directly experience

the world--- this is a way of thinking using the dualistic framework of body and soul composition.
However, as an embodied being we, the body and soul, directly experience the world as my world
or your world; although limiting, you can also say that it is an honor, that only I can experience my
world as my own and no one else.

The body may limit what we want to communicate with others, yet we can also view this as
a challenge to be more creative onto how we say things. For instance instead of saying “I love you”
we can play with words and say “I love you to the moon and back” or simply add some gestures or
other things that are not simply restricted to words, in order to express our true feelings and
thoughts.

The body also consequently hides the thoughts and feelings of a person. However, this
challenges us to be more sensitive, thoughtful and patient to the ones we love in order to maintain
good relationships with them. Moreover, there are times where we don’t really want other people
to know what we truly feel because it may be inappropriate or that we don’t want others to pity us,
thus the body serves as our protection or shelter.