You might not be aware of this but Andro and I usually say the same thing, but for some weird reason it always sounds like we have different perspectives.
I am absolutely aware of it, probably that's why mostly the same thing happens to me with you.
Deleuze in his "Abecedary interview" gave my favorite reply on the subject (I've explained it in a different thread, it's an interview in which he was asked about his ideas by a reporter, but the questions had to be focused on a word and following the order of the alphabet... and only 1 question per letter). When the reporter arrived to the F, he asked him about Fidelity... but Deleuze tricked the journalist and decided to talk about FRIENDSHIP. His words are amazing to me and quite related to this subject.
This is my own poor translation... but I think you may like it:
"... fidelity or loyalty is not exactly equal to friendship, you know. Friendship, why do we become friends with somebody else? For me, it is a matter of perception. This chaos is not exactly about having similar ideas or ideas in common, but what does it mean to have something in common with someone else? It means, and I may being banal, when one doesn't have to explain himself as to allow an understanding. This friendship doesn't come from ideas shared in common, but from having a common language or, actually, a common pre-language. There are people that I do not understand at all when they speak, even if they say very simple things like "Can you give me the salt?", I have to ask myself: "What are they saying?". On the contrary, there's other persons with whom I can speak of a highly abstract subject and I do not agree with them, but I understand everything. Anyway, I understand what I'm told. Which means that I have something to say and they have something to say, right? It is not at all in the community of ideas ... it is a mystery. It is that kind of indeterminate background which makes... Well, yes, it is true that there is a great mystery; the fact of having something to say to someone, understanding the other one so well without common ideas. I have a hypothesis: each of us is able to grasp a certain type no one holds all types at once - a certain type of charm. There is a perception of this charm. What I call charm? I'm not talking about homosexuality in friendship, not at all, but a gesture of someone, a modesty of someone, are sources of charm, but then they come to life to such an extent to the vital roots, in such a way that one makes friends with someone.
There are ... if you we speak about phrases; there are phrases that can only be said if the person who says them is vulgar, or ignoble. I mean some types of sentences. I would have to look for examples, but we do not have time, and also each one of us would change those examples ... But, at least, for each of us, when you hear a phrase like that one, we feel: "Oh, my God! What I'm hearing? What it is this filth?", Right?
It is impossible to think that you can say a phrase like that at random and then amend it: there are phrases that can not be amended ... and, conversely, with regard to the charm, there are insignificant phrases that have such charm, that attest such delicacy that immediately think "He's mine", not in the sense of ownership, but " He is mine, and I hope to be yours." Anyway, at that time friendship is born, or it can begin to born. So certainly it is a matter of perception, to perceive something that suits you or teach you, that opens you, that reveals you something, yes.
Someone emits signs, and you get them, or you do not get them ... but in my view, all friendships are based on these same bases: being sensitive to signs that someone emits. That said, I think that's what explains why one can spend hours with someone without saying a word, or preferably saying ... I do not know, saying completely insignificant things, saying, as a rule, saying things ... Friendship is funny."
My translation is far from being amazing, but I assume it's possible to understand it in my broken English.
I agree with Deleuze on this issue... Friendship is all about CHARM, a secret and impossible to explain enchantment... a hidden "pre-language" that two persons share, which doesn't get translated as identical ideas.
I.e, I've had the privilege of reading your poetry and I was amazed, so much that I felt the urge to translate some of it and share it with very close friends.
Or, in this thread, I don't truly relate the Placenta with the Tree of Life in such a direct way as you do... but I understand what you mean, I like what you mean, I feel what you mean... and I learn.
Same thing happens to me when you speak about psychedelics or "medicine"... I am not specially interested in that subject... and yet I completely follow your logic, which doesn't mean that I think the same.
In my case, my "trip" has quite often being related to Hermetic Orders... and yet I can speak with a person whose "trip" is also related to Hermetic Orders with a similar philosophy and in a matter of seconds I am feeling like: "What the hell is this person talking about?"... and his words are like the sound of a piston engine.
I know how much you detest Hermetic Orders and that's fine for me... I'm not an evangelist of them, I don't even care if someone likes them or not... that's not the point at all for me. I simply see them as a path, which can be identical to DMT or getting obsessed with Maths or Bonsais... It doesn't matter. It's not about "common interests" at all.
So it's not about having identical ideas, it's not about walking the same path, it's not about having had similar experiences... It's quite often about saying: "I disagree with you, but on a deeper level I perfectly understand you and I enjoy a lot understanding you". Such thing does not happen with everyone... only with those that each one perceives as having a similar vital root that is impossible to explain.
I.e, when we recorded the podcast, I didn't enjoy very much the part of the interview because they make me feel uneasy (but that's just me, for some reason I don't like answering questions in the context of an interview... even if I'm glad that we recorded it)... and once the interview finished and I felt free to talk... I don't even remember what we talked about, but it was not something of vital importance, indeed, I think we talked about trivial things after the interview... but I didn't feel uneasy at all and it was absolutely enjoyable for me... and then I saw the news about your daughter and I simply smiled.
(I am fantastic in getting out of topic... an issue that will probably make Andro get nervous
).
