Essence

Essence (Latin: essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. In the history of Western philosophy, essence has often served as a vehicle for doctrines that tend to individuate different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties.

Well, you can believe I wrote the above paragraph and therefore actually understand it, or that I copy & pasted it from Wiki. But either way it did lead me on to checking out types of Philosophy. And my goodness there are a lot.

On a purely philosophical rather than religious basis the concept of philosophy started at pretty much the same time in various parts of the world. China, India, Egypt, Greece and Persia seemed to lead the way, although I am generalising massively here. The date would have been around 600 BCE.

So that makes 2,600 years of thinking by some pretty bright people. Which sort of makes me wonder why all the problems of the world have not been solved by now. 

great minds of antiquity

Maybe Karl Marx was right when he famously wrote ‘Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it ’. I suppose that the next 2,000 years will concentrate minds on to what to change it to.

Which would certainly please the ‘Amalgamated Union of Philosophers, Sages, Luminaries and other Professional Thinking Persons’ who would argue that the search for ultimate truth is the "inalienable prerogative of your professional working thinkers". As usual Douglas Adams gets you thinking.

And right now I’m thinking of Essence again and having to do without the help of members of the AUPSLPTP. The question I’m asking myself is what is the essence of a football club? which is not as trivial as it seems.

cricketers turned footballers

Originally they were formed to give an expression of a community. They had players, coaches, back room staff and supporters (not fans). There was a place in the structure for anyone in the community to express themselves. Different communities had different values or reasons for starting a club. For instance Arsenal was founded by munitions workers and Birmingham City (above) by a group of cricketers from a local church.

But look at them and many other clubs now. They are international brands with fans who consume their games on television. So will they, if at all, retain their links with their origins, their essence? They must not forget where they have come from, not lose sight of the fact that the strength of a club lies in its connection with their communities and become franchises. If, and I’m afraid when, that happens they will cease to be a football club. I don’t know how long that will take but I think it will.

the soul desert

So can this have any relevance beyond football? Well, with the growth of the internet and the slow demise of local newspapers I know many people who know more about what is happening in New York or London than they do about events in their own towns or cities. The essence of Blackpool or Preston is being lost. Even the High Streets could be anywhere in the world.

I’ll leave it there and go and find what polysemic means.

And before I forget, here is some Vogon poetry:

Writing off the Blues

Four words
after fifty years

Francis  Latchford  Vowden
Wembley in ‘95
the genius of Christophe Dugarry

we’ve won we’ve lost
drawn to matches
that won’t be lit
I’ve had enough

which may seem a bit OTT
I mean it’s not like
I’ll not go to a game again

I can nip down the Rec
on any Saturday
chose a team
applaud a decent move

like not paying a penny
cent  yuan  dirham
to some multinational
who’s filed us under
Investment Opportunity

but don’t get me wrong
I’ll miss my place on the Kop
people I’ve known for decades
whose names I don’t know
who’ve shared the intensity
of a last minute goal
or that brain numbing nil nil
against Brentford last year.

First published in Reach, October 2021


Thanks for reading, Terry Q