Guilt

At some time we can talk about the way guilt operates as a transaction, when it is not viewed in the simple linear terms of ordinary consciousness.  (It is notable that academics understand reality only in terms of simple linear consciousness, or common, ordinary reality, which means they do not understand these transactions occurring beneath the surface of consciousness, which are not guided by rationality at all.

 

This is a hard concept to grasp, then, at the level of ordinary consciousness, but it is not impossible to understand why Bataille thought it was beneficial to take on guilt in relation to others’ evil actions.  For, (as Nietzsche knew) evil  is in fact the capacity for powerful action OUTSIDE OF centrism, and from the viewpoint of conventionalism.  That is exactly what powerful action IS.  (It is always considered guilty/evil action.)

 

Furthermore, on an even deeper level (I’m not sure that even Bataille grasped this), but if guilt is attributed to me, for instance (especially in instances where I have not acted powerfully in any way, not to mention in a counter-conventional way) I will get the SENSATION of feeling powerful – that sensation is often potent enough to make me feel a more powerful person.

 

That is why the leftists’ attribution of guilt to white Rhodesians (and other historical alleged offenders) is so counterproductive – because they are passing on the attribution for evil action not just as as an active expectation but as a projective potency (beneath the surface of consciousness).

 

At that undercurrent level, those who have been attributed as evil gain the capacity to radiate a sense of nonconformity more effectively.  But what is not seen is the invisible transaction, whereby the leftist or liberal’s power to act is displaced onto whom they consider to be the legitimate “evil actor” to give them the potency to act, instead.

 

But conventional – that is to say, academic – interpreters of Bataille, assume that what he meant by “accepting the guilt” (a quote from Nietzsche, about godliness) – means accepting masochism.  No.  It means accepting the gift of potency for non-centrist action.