But it is said of old Cosmographers, that when they had said all that they knew of a Countrey, and yet much more was to be said, they said that the rest of those countries were possest with Giants, or Witches, or Spirits, or Wilde beasts, so that they could pierce no farther into that Countrey, so when wee have travell'd as farre as wee can, with safetie, that is , as farre as Ancient, or Moderne Expositores lead us, in the discoverie of these new Heavens, and new Earth, yet wee must say at last, that it is a Countrey inhabited with Angells, and Arch-angells, with Cherubins, and Seraphins, and that wee can looke no farther into it, with these eyes. Where it is locally, wee enquire not; We rest in this, that it is the habitation prepar'd for the blessed Saints of God; Heavens, where the Moone is more glorious that our Sunne, and the Sunne as glorious as Hee that made it; For it is he himselfe, the Sonne of God, the Sunne of glorie. A new Earth, where all their waters and milke, and all their milke, honey; where all their grasse is corne, and all their corne, Manna; where all their glebe, all their clods of earth are gold, and all their gold of innumerable carats; Where all their minutes are ages, and all their ages, Eternity; Where everything, is every minute, in the highest exaltation, as good as it can be, and yet super-exalted, and infinitely multiplied, by every minutes addition; every minute, infinitely better, than ever it was before. Of these new heavens, and this new earth we must say at last, that wee can say nothing; For, the eye of Man gath not seene, nor eare heard, nor heart conceiv'd, the State of this place. We limit, and determine our consideration with that Horizon, with which the Holy Ghost hath limited us, that it is that new Heavens, and new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse.
John Donne - from The Sermons and Death's Duell
Perhaps modernity is no more or less than the attempt to say something or all of Donne's new Earth. To actualise the dream or make it contemporaneous, to make it real. Badiou characterises the 20th Century as having been driven by a 'passion for the real', this 'real' rather than acting as a break or dislocation on development (as something which can stand for conscience) is it's fuel, humility will always appear false. In the face of what cannot be conceived we push and probe, we cannot 'limit, and determine our consideration with that Horizon,'. Rather than being bound to atheism, modernity is driven or haunted by a disavowed religious spirit or consciousness, that can only inspire religiousity - the appearence of religion emptied of content.
2 comments:
Interesting thoughts, Citizen. I'm reading 'the century' and his 'Paul' right now. In the latter he says that he's concerned about 'using' the idea of Paul independently of the truth content of the doctrine! What else is this but religiosity!
In truth, I can't help but think that quite a lot of philosophy is nothing but the remnants of theology; it is as if the philosophers cannot bring themselves to admitting religion but have to look for second-hand modes of 'thinking'. There is almost a psychological reaction in how they usually start with the disclaimer: all truth is within history (the horizon), there is no transcendent dimension (nothing beyond the horizon..which makes us ask: is it a horizon any more?)
What you say about creating it here and now has, of course, led to totalitarianisms. "he who would play the angel ends up playing the beast". Even democracies are working on fragments of the religous: as Illich says, "life" is an idolised christian concept..and doesn't Blanchot say that "community" is a bastardised christian notion? And perhaps 'happiness' is a shadow of 'the garden'?
Roberto Calasso once said that modern thought starts as a series of 'theological insurrections'. I'm beginning to think that he may be right.
If our instincts for religion do not change (at once being wary of talking about religion being natural, though) does that mean that it takes on different forms when formal religion disappears?
There was a great 'in our time' (Melvyn Bragg) which talked about Girard and how consumerism, Marxism et al were really secular redemption theories. (I've got excerpts on this in 'the Dead Christ' under 'art')
citizen, are you still alive?
If yes, knock twice!
Hope all is well,
K.
Post a Comment