Thursday, April 03, 2008

On being firm

And I'm not talking about body parts.

I'm talking about being marked by firm determination.

About being bold and steady. About being intègre. Which I saw translated as just but that doesn't seem right. Whole seems better, as in being completely whole. Whatever that is.

About being résolu. Resolute.

In French, résolu is the past participle of the verb résoudre, to resolve. So how is resolute different from resolved? To resolve can mean to find a solution, to remove doubts, to cause to progress from dissonance to consonance, to render parts visible and distinct. How do you get from here to there? How do you separate the image parts visible and distinct? How do you make them whole? How do you give them back their integrity?

And why don't we have an adjective for intègre? Someone who is whole, true to himself. What is he?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

just got back from vacation - I need to catch up on your blogs - since I am horrible in grammar, I appreciate the grammar lesson! As far as being tru to himself - is anyone really true to themselves - how do you really know what "true" is - too complex with the constant changing of ones self (at least for me)!