Dear Cyndy,

A bit more elaboration about recursiveness,
in the context of Goethe's sonnet.
If one takes it seriously,
the sonnet which is the target of the poem
is identical with the targeting sonnet.
Thus the logic of the poem is recursive,
it describes itself, and that which it describes
in turn describes itself, endlessly on and on.
Goethe's sonnet, although ostensibly about
any sonnet is also about Goethe's sonnet
about Goethe's sonnet about Goethe's sonnet
about Goethe's sonnet about Goethe's sonnet
and so on ad infinitum.
The mathematician knows about functions
which are functions of themselves.
He calls such functions recursive.
I'm no mathematician,
but I learned about recursive functions
when I taught myself computer programming.
Kierkegaard, interestingly enough,
in his closest approach to logical compulsion
or to mathematical rigor
defined human nature, or the human soul,
as a relation that relates to itself as relation.
I interpret this also as a recursive definition,
a logical encapsulation which separates
and conclusively isolates
that which recurs into itself, ad infinitum.
It's a mathematical definition of inwardness.
Such isolation by recursion brings to mind Leibniz' Monadology.
What makes Leibniz' monad so inaccessible,
at least for me,
is its static representation,
as opposed to an hypothetical dynamic accounting
where a monad might be defined
in Kierkegaardian terms,
as a relation which relates only to itself,
A representation of what a monad does
as distinct from a representation of what a monad is.
I apologize if all this seems too abstract
to make any sense; perhaps it is.
I'll mail this off now,
to clear the deck so to speak,
or the computer file,
for the next installment.

Stay well.

Jochen