Νot belonging

Paris Petridis


The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner;

he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong;

but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land.

Hugo of St. Victor (1096-1141)

 

Highway 40, Negev desert

 

Paradoxically, a home makes you more vulnerable. The more settled, contained and protected you are, the more exposed you will be to the irreducible uncertainties of life. In a way, security is a kind of death.

 

heliopolis_cairoHeliopolis, Cairo

 

By contrast, voluntary homelessness —or, embracing the fact that all homes (geographical, political, religious) are provisional— will, if it does not destroy you, make originality of vision possible. For it will give you more than one perspective on life and awareness of the chimera of all identities.

 

Cornish, Alexandria

 

downtown-cairoDowntown, Cairo

 

garden-city_cairoGarden City, Cairo

 

The constitutive lack that comes with the human existence is a sine qua non for homelessness. Not belonging to your native place or dogma does not entail their loss but rather that loss is inherent in the very existence of either. The desire to create is nothing other than the sublimation of this lost fullness, compensation for an irreparable lack.

 

garden_city_cairoGarden City, Cairo

 

Of course, you can be at home and feel homeless and vice versa.