Disjecta Membra

Disjecta membra translates to something like 'scattered fragments'. The term is most often used to describe the historical or anthropological remnants which an academic might use to gain insight into a particular community during a particular period. Rather than rely wholly on official documents (or in the many cases where such documents do not exist) one can piece together an image of a person or peoples based on their letters, receipts, tax bills, photographs, artefacts, and notes. For me, the phrase inspired a general sense of how the human mind works writ large. We too lack any coherent monadic description of the world or ourselves within in. We are built, psychologically and epistemologically, on a myriad of small fragments of memory and experience, most of which we could not consciously call to mind. And yet, behind this series of fleeting shards of ideation there is the feeling of a solidly built self. Coherence emerges from consistency in this steadfast belief in the unity of self, but look inward more deeply and you will find that you, and I, and all people, are simply the result of a storm of seemingly random occurrences, baseless intuitions, evolutionary imperatives and self-authored perceptions. We are a fabric woven from many threads. We are scattered fragments held together only by some intangible throughline which we may call the very essence of humanity itself, an essence which itself is defined by laws of nature that lie at the foundation of all existence.