Additionally, he says, living beings live under liberty and demise. What he is saying in this instance, is that one day, all human beings will die. This is an inescapable fact and we have to contend ourselves with it. On the other hand, we all crave freedom in one way or the other.
From there, he states that once a living being dies, he enters into totality (27). On the other hand, a thinking being cannot be absorbed into totality. Both of these two elements exist on and the best they can do is relate with each other. One way in which a living being relates to totality is by thinking. This separates us from it, and enables us to remain as ‘self’. Nonetheless, the fact that a living being thinks means that he is in a position to imagine himself in totality, and in so doing, he becomes a part of it, despite the fact that he is not absorbed by it. Such an individual, Levinas says, is defining himself.
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