Gabriella Giannachi follows the ethymology of the word presence
M’é piú caro il morir che’l viver senza
(I’d rather die than live without it)
(Petrarca)
The notion of presence is embedded with a number of distinct and dialectically opposed factors. Fundamentally, the noun presence indicates that which is prae (before) sens (sum: I am), i.e., ‘before I am – in front of me – in view of me’. Sens is present participle of esse (to be) and indicates ‘that which is; that which exists, is true’. This suggests a link between the idea of presence and notions of being and truth. There is a marked difference between ab-sens (off, away, from – being) and prae-sens (before, in front of – being), though there is a clear separation between being and that which it is present to. (see OED) NB also, ence is to be found in nouns showing state or quality (absence, diligence, elegance, temperance) (see Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, 1988). So presence indicates that which is corollary to, around and before being, where the emphasis is on being. This suggests that presence indicates something other than the self which is witnessed in its occurrence. This also suggests that being is indeed separate but indispensable to a reading and understanding of presence.
According to the OED presence indicates:
- ‘the fact or state of being present; the fact of being together with someone or something’;
- ‘the fact or condition of being present; the state of being before, in front of, or in the same place with a person or thing; being there, attendance, company, society, association’
- ‘the portion of space before or around someone or something, immediate vicinity’
It is interesting that presence can indicate both a state and its condition in space and time. NB presence implies plurality. Presence could be rhizomatic – it links me to the rest. Presence is indispensable to society. Without it, being would be isolated in itself. Presence is being projected towards the other.
The noun presence is linked to the adverb present. According to the OED present indicates:
- ‘the act or fact of being present in a place and together with someone, presence’
- ‘the present time’
- ‘the portion of space before or around someone, immediate vicinity’
- in this (that) place, here, there’; ‘now’; ‘at this moment; also, in the next moment, straightway, at once’
Being present indicates both a state, or condition in time and in space. It indicates ‘now’ but also ‘in the next moment’. In other words, it is about now and its becoming. Presence is immanence and potential dialogue. Presence is before I am – not, ‘not me’, or ‘without me’, but ‘before’ me. Presence is ‘in front of me’. It looks at me. I look at it. We are together.
As an adj. of relation present also indicates:
- ‘expressing a local or temporary relation to a person or thing which is the point of reference.’
- ‘senses relating to place’
- ‘being in the place considered or mentioned’
- ‘existing in the thing, class, or case mentioned or under consideration’
- ‘of which one is conscious; directly thought of, remembered or imagined’
- ‘having presence of mind, collected, self-possessed’; ‘prompt to perceive or act, ready, quick’
So presence also indicates awareness, self-awareness, consciousness and even alertedness.
Presence of course is also related to the idea of presentation which according to the OED indicates:
- ‘the formal act or ceremony of dedicating an infant or a young child to God or to a pagan deity’ see also the Christian Feast of the Presentation
- ‘that which is offered or presented, a gift’
NB that presentare has a subsidiary in representare – to represent – mimesis. So, within presence is implicit some idea of gift (see also Marcel Mauss’s The Gift), a sacrifice (or poison) implying social obligation.
Presence is not neutral. Presence implies an ur-polis and polis implies politics. Presence is charged.
Synonyms and related practices:
- being there
- awareness
- self-awareness
- aura
- charisma
- engagement
- non-absence
- eucharist
- omnipresence [link]
- consciousness
- ubiquity
- telepresence
- CAVE
