The Purpose of the Universe, No Need to Care
Both Jorge Luis Borges and Zhuangzi share their views of the universe throughout their books Collected Fictions and Basic Writings. For Zhuangzi, he shows his view of time and space at many different points in the book by showing the limitations and shortcomings of our ability to understand. On the other hand, Borges frequently used scenarios to construct the elements of time and space. He then analyzed these scenarios about humanity’s quest for understanding and wisdom to explain these elements. Specifically, the ideas regarding time and space, for Borges, are shown in the three short stories “The Library of Babel,”“The Garden of Forking Paths,” and “The Book of Sand.” By analyzing the ideas and key terms present in both Borges’ and Zhuangzi’s texts one can attempt to draw their own conclusions about time and space. However, this in itself can have infinite answers. Thus the maze (whether literally in Borges or figuratively in Zhuangzi) is not only a construct within the texts, but it is represented by the literature itself. It then becomes our task to try and understand its meaning…if we can. It is my belief that both Zhuangzi and Borges use ideas to conceptualize the complexity of time and space as well as to show humanity’s attempt to understand it; and by so doing they demonstrate how difficult, if not impossible, it would be for humanity to comprehend it. As a result they, in their respective ways, each try to convince us why we should not worry about it.
Borges shows his conceptualization of the complexity of time and space in one of his short stories “The Library of Babel (112-118).” The Library of Babel is a narrative about a monstrously large library that houses a single book that knows all. Borges uses many adjectives when describing both the library and the book, such as: indefinite, infinite, endless, unceasing, everlasting, unlimited, enormous, and multiform. All of these adjectives can represent...