Collecting Connections/Connecting Collections

And surely we throw ourselves into erotic pleasures above all in order to remember them. So that their luminous points will connect our youth with our old age by means of a shining ribbon! So that they will preserve our memory in an eternal flame! -Milan Kundera

Life, it seems, is a moving between eternities. It is a stretched out continuum highlighted by points which link us--or at least give us the impression of linking us--to some sort of encounter with the infinite. And, of course, many times--most times--this happens in the throes of erotic desire. Life, it seems, is temporality lived out between the illusion of the infinite, and its infinite hope. This is who we become--not the continuum, but the points along the way that leave our memory seared with the mark of something more, something beyond. These encounters take us beyond ourself and thus, in some tragic way, end up defining us. The places where we are most vulnerable lead to the places where we are most ourselves by not being anything. The places where we surrender lead to victory over time--at least temporarily.


And take it from me, my friend, only a word uttered at this most ordinary of moments is capable of illuminating it in such a way that it remains unforgettable.
-Milan Kundera

In those moments, our lives become eternal. Within seconds, we build an image that becomes the irreplaceable, singular unity of the otherwise temporal existence of everyday life. And, yes, they are unforgettable. Isn't that the goal of all of this--this erotic (non)project? To be unforgettable--to be more than geometry, more than dimensions, more than physiology?

Shall we collect them? Mark as many points on that continuum as possible in order to create a storehouse of memories of the infinite? The hopeless quest of infinite memories? Does the infinite come in terms of quanity? Or, shall we connect? Shall we connect intimately, fiercely, ferociously--attacking the moments, the seconds, the breaths with the impossible dream of destroying them? The dream of timeless victory--timeless connection?

They say for me that I'm a collector of women. In reality I'm far more a collector of words.
-Milan Kundera

For me, the infinite--the unforgettable--the reason--comes in the timeless connection--the connection that is capable of rendering time mute, even for a second. I don't want anything else, and don't want one who thinks differently. I won't fuck for physicality's sake. I won't fuck for geometry, or physiology, or even biology. In fact, in that way, I won't fuck at all. I don't want to collect. I don't want a storehouse. No, I want non-moments. No, I want unforgettable moments that are unforgettable because they are not moments.

When I can't write anymore I'll die. But I'll die loving. -Ivan Klima