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panion”, as, in the same breath, the bark covered them, concealing their mouths.” (Ovid 2000, VIII.611-726.)4 “They spoke of things past.” This is the basis of the identity of the self that manifests in remembering. Without remembrance, there is no identity. And if there were no forgetting, reason would collapse, the human itself would be destroyed. If there were no memory, identity would become nothing. Memory must be. In fact, memory solidifies the same, and forgetting preserves it, because the same and the other remember differently. The other is also the different. If the memories of one can be found in the same place as the other’s, this creates the wondrous illusion of union, to be one with the other, and thus to have the illusion of the other regained—in wood. As a tree, and not two people. Of course, this is also passing away, but it is also union as a new form of life. It is the latter that is emphasized in it. Even if it is an illusion, it is undeniably beautiful for one. Let us face it, if the same is not Philemon and Baucis, if it is not a combining tree, then the situation is a little more complicated. In the case of the “I”, this system we use to relate concepts moves from the perception of nature to the self-perception of the spirit. The struggle is just beginning, and that is when the “other” appears. And it will not soon disappear. That is, if they do not become a tree. 24 Philemon and Baucis
