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Mysticism and Morality in Georges Bataille Author(s) : Peter Conner Source: Assemblage, No. 20, Violence, Space (Apr., 1993), Pp. 30-31 Published By: Stable URL: Accessed: 19/06/2014 22:52
Mysticism and Morality in Georges Bataille Author(s) : Peter Conner Source: Assemblage, No. 20, Violence, Space (Apr., 1993), Pp. 30-31 Published By: Stable URL: Accessed: 19/06/2014 22:52
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Quietly,something enormous hashappened in thereal- an assaulton the disciplineof philosophy:"Things planto hold a humansacrifice,the avowedly"un-
ityof Western of all authority,
man:a destruction a must be lookedat squarely,"he writesin that es- tenable"projectof foundinga religion-recall the
in overconfident
radicaldisillusionment reason,anda say,and it is necessaryto admitthat the dialectic activitiesof a fraternityorderor of some extremist
dissolutionof bondshavemadeanything,absolutely had antecedentsotherthan Heraclitus,Plato,or or obscurantistsect (andultimatelyaccountfor
anythingseempossible. Fichte. It is linkedeven moreessentiallyto cur- Queneau'sdefectionfromthe group).Nonethe-
-Karl Jaspers,1935 rentsof thoughtsuch as Gnosticism,Neoplatonic less, one of the groupof men who rodethe train
mysticism,and to philsophicalphantomssuch as into the forestto practicenocturnalritualscame
"Anything,absolutelyanything":the tremulous
tone, the breathlessincredulitythat syncopates MeisterEckhart,the CardinalNicolasof Cusa, to see himselfas a spiritualdirector.As conten-
andJakobBoehme."3Bataille'swilfullrewritingof tious as the meetingsof the Collegeof Sociology
Jaspers'ratherbanefuldiagnosisrelaysthe trou-
blingand depressiveeffectsof whatthis philoso-
the historyof philosophytakesthe formof mayhavebeen, the goalof that organisationwas,
Husserl'sworstnightmare;implicatingmetaphys- at least in Bataille'smind,"topose the questionof
pherof existenceperceivedto be a collective
collapseof confidence.Jasper'sanxioussighwas
ics in mysticismby questioningthe purityof its spiritualpower,"with the priorconvictionthat "a
echoedin otherquarters:in Vienna,forexample, idealistancestry,he denies Husserl'sappealto any spiritualpower[is] necessary."9
whereHusserl,in the sameyear,pronouncedthe more"primordial" or untaintedidealof reasonas
The questionis:whatrolecan philosophy,andthe
Europeannations"sick,"and calledfora "medi- guideto ourdevelopment.
cine"to restoreto them a "genuine,healthyEuro- figureof the philosopher,playin the spiritualdirec-
Why is it so importantforBataillethat philosophy tion of Europe?Of course,as Bataillewasfondof
peanspirituallife."'Husserl,whosetone is more acknowledgeits mysticalfoundations? Formany pointingout, he wasnevera philosopher: "whatI
that of the experiencedand intrepidphysician, reasons,amongstwhichwe mightbeginwith the teach [...] is a drunkenness[ivresse],it is not a phi-
concurredwith Jaspersthat the perceived"crisis"
following:becausemysticismprovidesthe missing losophy:I am not a philosopher,but a saint,per-
indeedinvolveda loss of faith in reason.But when linkin philsophy'schainof reasoningthat mightal- hapsa madman."'lNonetheless,he readwidelyin
Husserlwritesthat he too is "certainthat the Eu- low forthe possibilityof revolution,forthe "power philosophy,or at leastwidelyenoughto acquirea
ropeancrisishas its rootsin a misguidedrational- surge"that could"turn[s]a hesitatingmaninto a distasteforit, most especiallyforits dryness.Sartre
ism,"he is not simplyventuringa diagnosis,he is frenziedbeing."4Bataillethereforeaffirmedthe wasrightat leastin pointingout, in his reviewof
in the samebreathindicatinga remedy.The turbulenceof the crisede l'esprit,this momentof InnerExperience, a lexicaloverlapping withJaspers,
"radicaldisillusionment" bemoanedby Jaspers confusionwhen"anything,absolutelyanything"
wasin Husserl'sviewnot so much a causeof this Heidegger,Wahl andothers."If Bataillewasto as-
seemedpossible,preciselybecausemetaphysicswas sumedirectorship, it wouldbe by firstdonninga
crisisas a foreseeablereactionto the realization
beingforcedto open itselfup to everythingthat it mantelstolenfromthe philosophers, the "func-
that the critiquesof reason-the "greatinvestiga- hadevacuatedfromits domainin orderto consti- tionariesof mankind,"as Husserlhad calledthem.
tions on humanunderstanding" that wereto tute itselfas a homogenousandhomogenizingor-
guide Europetowardevergreaterenlighten- der,as a science.ForBataille,the principal The rathersillyadventuresof the Acephalecon-
ment-had strayedfromthe surerpath pre- exclusionoperatedby philosophyis the exclusion tingent,whosemembers,addsone criticin shock,
scribed,accordingto Husserl,by a more of the mystical,that surgebeyondthe discursive "avaientdejaatteintou depassela trentaine,"'2 are
"primordial" ideal.ForHusserl,then, in 1935,the knownin laughter,tears,eroticismetc. Andthe es- not at all the isolatedexpressionsof a naiveor
dreamis not over.Europecan and must striveto senceof the mysticalexperience,accordingto youthfulspirit.They arenot misguidedmoments
correctthe waywardconceptof ratioinstitutedin Bataille,lies preciselyin the "destruction of all au- extraneousto an intellectualprogram,they are
whatHusserlhad come to see as the darkesthour ratherthe extremeand deliberaterepresentations
thority"of whichJasperswrites,andwhichcharac-
in the historyof Reason:the Age of Enlighten- terizesNietzsche'sreligiousexperience:"Atthe of a meditatedproject.And a projectthat has ev-
ment. Husserl'scontributionis to state, unequivo- basisof Nietzsche'ssupposedreligiousexperience erythingto do with the articulationof an impos-
cally,that this stageof developmentof the idea of is the shatteringof all possiblerespect,"he writes, sibleethics, an entirelyothermoralitythat
reasonhad been "amistake,"and,boldly,to call andagain,concerningZarathustra, is it- dispensedwith performativeacts of repressiveleg-
"Morality
fora returnto a more"mature"(i.e. Greek)form " Or islation.Is it anywonderthat Bataille,drivento
selfMYSTICAL EXPERIENCE. again:onlywhen
of rationalitythat alonecan rectifyEurope'sun- countenancethe necessityof evil, to include it
moralityitself-and Jaspers,HusserlandBataille
rulyways.The cureis close at hand:only more areaddressing nothingotherthanthe questionof
withinthe boundariesof anypossiblemorality,
reason,betterreason,moreenlightenedenlighten- wasled at times towardsa positionthat couldbe
moralityandmorale-can be freelycontested,in its
ment, only a "heroismof reason"will rescuethe veryfoundations,onlywhenthe antinomyof moral
confusedwith the otherof morality?ForBataille,
ailingEuropeanspiritfromdestitution. lawcan be affirmed,onlywhen"thereis nothing the notion that "anything,absolutelyanything"be
Reasonwasbeing calledupon to mend its ways,to that is not in question"6 is the principleof democ- possiblewasnothingless than the principleof and
heal its own wounds.In accordancewith the no- racy-paradoxically the veryprinciplethat under- prolegomenato any futureethics.
tion of the radical,skepticalepoche,the ratio,just minesits existence-fully realised.
We cannotknowexactlywhatBatailleplannedto
as it is alwayssusceptibleto error,is by the same What then mightmoralitybe forBataille?This is includein his projectedSysteme desmorales,but
tokenalwayscapableof self-correction.Errorpre- difficultto say,forif each pageof Bataille'stext the fact that he intendedto writeone lends sup-
supposescorrectibility.(SuchwasHusserl'sfaith burnswith the urgencyof the ethical,rarelywillwe portto the suggestionthat Batailleheld onto at
in the regenerativecapacityof reasonthat, invok- find anythingresemblingethicalpronouncement. least "thepossibilityof an ethics."13The notionof
ing the phoenix,he could still speakof "there- Certainly,in the absenceof an "unassailable foun- "thepossible,"of course,is itself a highlycharged
birthof Europefromthe spiritof philosophy.") dation"formorality,therecan be no placeforthe theme in Bataille'slexicon.An unusuallyclearly
But therewasa hitch:Husserlunderstoodthat the kindof "truth-preaching" ethics of whichJaspers definedcategoryin his oeuvre,"lepossible"repre-
crisisaffecting"oursciencesas such"wasalready himselfwasso suspicious.7Indeed,the notionthat sents forBataillehumanexistenceregulatedac-
particularly acute in the disciplineof philosophy the workof GeorgesBataille-this "excremental cordingto the worldof work,a worldheld in place
itself,keeperof the flameof reason.The threatto this contemplative"newmystic," by the essentiallyChristianvalorizationof earthly
philosopher,"
philosophyconsistedprimarilyin an invasionby this thinker"enthralled by decayand evil"8- industryand the concomitantpromiseof future
discursivedomainsinimicalto rationalthought:
mightharborthe groundwork foran ethics in any recompense.This "worldof project,"of meansand
"inourtime [philosophy]threatensto succombto traditionalsensecouldappearsomewhatsurpris- ends,of sacrificeforprofitwithina finite economy
skepticism,mysticismand irrationalism."2 ing. Bataille'soften morbidpreoccupations, his of calculation,is a worldstructuredaccordingto
Now it waspreciselyGeorgesBataille'sprojectin difficultand ellipticalthoughtandhis apparentre- the valuesof Christianmorality.Aboveall else, the
the 1930sand 40s to makephilosophysuccombto fusalto dispensewisdomof the ethicalinflection fictionof salvationservesas the lynchpinof sub-
whathe deemedto be its mysticalantecedents. irritatedmoreright-mindedthinkersto no end. missivemorality,distractingmindsandbodies
Beginningwith "TheCritiqueof the Foundations The puerileanticsand questionableintellectualaf- with usefulactivitiesin the belief that such patient
of the HegelianDialectic,"co-writtenwith finitiesthat characterized the Acephalegroup- busynesswillbe rewarded,later.(It is easyto see
RaymondQueneauin 1932,Bataillewasto launch the rituals,the secrecy,the apotheosisof war,the that this structurealsoservesthe ends of capitalist
Peter 30
spacewithinwhichdeterminatemoraloptionsbe- sible,"or areits movementsdirectedby someother " See Sartre, op. cit., esp. 155, 159, 179-80.
12
come possible:moralityrequiresa temporaldis- principlethat couldreplacethe principleof obliga- Jean-FrancoisFourny, Introductiona la lecturede Georges
Bataille (New York:Lang, 1988), 94.
tensionof the instant,a momentof delayor tion?We findsourselvesbeforethe incomprehen- 13
See Allan Stoekl's preface to Yale FrenchStudies, 78 ("On
differalthat facilitatesa consciouschoice of one sionarticulatedby Sartre:howcoulda subject,
Bataille"), (1990), 2.
courseof actionoveranother.Bataille'sinnerexpe- definedas the ecstaticsubjectof non-knowledge, 14 Cf.
L'Experienceinterieure,in (Euvrescompletes,vol. V
rienceimpliesa contrarymovementin that it aims discriminatein anysignificantwayamongstdistinct (Paris:Gallimard, 1973), 19 and 67; cf. also Methode de
preciselyto close up the intrusivespacethat sepa- activities,betweendrinkinga cup of coffeeand meditation, ibid., 223.
5Inner
ratesconsciousnessfromitself,and hence also wastingthe life of anotherhumanbeing?2' Experience,trans. L. A. Boldt (Albany:SUNY Press,
from(the) experience.Innerexperiencemeansan 1988), 136.
auto-telicexperienceunmediatedby anyexternal Anything,absolutelyanythingmust be possible, 16 Methode de meditation, 203.
whichmeansthat "theimpossible"must come to 17
Cf. Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. J. Macquarrieand E.
authority:obeyingonlyits own inexorablemove- be acknowledgedas the impossibleand paradoxi- Robinson (New York:Harperand Row, 1962), section 60.
ment, it does not projecta finalitybeyonditself. It cal groundof any morality.That Bataille'smoral- 18 Cf. Inner Experience,4.
is in this sensethat Bataille,promptedby
Blanchot,repeatedlyinsists:"experienceitself is ity includesthe possibilityof evil is evidentfrom 9 Inner Experience,9.
31 Conner