Using the philosophical-literary resources of G.W.L. Leibniz and J.L. Borges, the authors analyze the process of identity in the present day, inseparable from the recognition of the other. Both thinkers start from the affirmation that the other, the universe, is part of oneself. The universe is each of its parts and each part contains the universe, reflecting only a portion of it, transforming into a kind of sieve whose mesh changes with every minimal activity. For Leibniz, communication is intra-substantial; the universe is and exists in each monad. Borges, for whom Cruz defines his identity in one night, considers that the excess that Funes suffers makes thought and perception of the other impossible.
Mystical experiences are both noetic—providing knowledge—and ineffable, posing an epistemological puzzle. Using Wittgenstein's Tractatus, the paper argues that mystical knowledge lies beyond the limits of language and the world, occupying a liminal, negative space. Though epistemically weak from this perspective, such experiences hold pragmatic and subjective value for religious life.