Hegel’s Phenomenology states:
to uphold the work of death is the task which demands the greatest
strength. […] Now, the life of Spirit is not that life which is frightened
of death, and spares itself destruction, but that life which assumes
death and lives with it. Spirit attains its truth only by finding itself in
absolute dismemberment. It is not that (prodigious) power by being
the Positive that turns away from the Negative, as when we say of
something: this is nothing or (this is) false and, having (thus) disposed
of it, pass from there to something else; no, Spirit is that power only
to the degree in which it contemplates the Negative face to face
(and) dwells with it. This prolonged sojourn is the magical force
which transposes the negative into given-Being. (Hegel 19,
translation modified. Cited by Bataille, “Hegel” 331; 282-83)4---
SubStance #119, Vol. 38, no. 2, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment