Much in a Little: Reflections on the Gift of a Sea-Shell

Abstract

“It is thus the essence of the thing and of the world to present themselves as ‘open’, to send us beyond their predetermined manifestations, to promise us always ‘something else to see’. This is what is sometimes expressed by saying that the thing and the world are mysterious. They are indeed, when we do not limit ourselves to their objective aspect, but put them back into the setting of subjectivity.” (Merleau-Ponty, 1962, p. 333)