RV: The Catacombs, the Forests, Knowledge and Being.

[Roberto Calvo Macias <rcalvom@ctv.es>]

-----Mensaje original-----
De:	Roberto Calvo Macias 
Enviado el:	miércoles 27 de mayo de 1998 13:59
Para:	'ernst-juenger-l@maillist.ox.ac.uk'
Asunto:	RE: The Catacombs, the Forests, Knowledge and Being.



-----Mensaje original-----
De:	Thomas Friese 
Enviado el:	miércoles 27 de mayo de 1998 9:18
Para:	'ernst-juenger-l@maillist.ox.ac.uk'
Asunto:	The Catacombs, the Forests, Knowledge and Being.

>  Auf die Rueckkehr titanischen Wessens in die Gestalt
>  des Arbeiters verweist der Zustrom plutonischer
>  Energie, die voresrtst eher gefuerchtet, ja negiert
>  wird als bherrscht. Das wird erst moeglich, wenn
>  sie sich personifiziert.

> So, was heißt plutonische Energie? It's a little obscure...

Dear John and Jungerites: Thanks for bringing up the plutonic energy question - you have accidentally given me the solution of a old mystery.

I explain: your reference reminded me of a related passage in Eumeswil that has until now always struck me oddly - I could not understand whether this was because I misunderstood Junger's terms and categories or because there was an error in the translation (where it's underlined)

	(Following on from a discussion of evolution, experiments and nature as an experiment:) 

	"As little can be expected from evolution as from any progress. The great change transcends not only the species but the entire bios. It is a crucial loss that mere fragments have come down to us from the most ancient documents. The difference between the forests and the catacombs seems to be that in the former one experiments at the Tree of Knowledge and in the later at the Tree of Life (I thought it would have been the reverse)
	Attila is familiar with the forests; he has lived there for a long time as at many outer limits. That is why I listen very attentively to his words and even more to his silences. Likewise, more is happening in the catacombs than the hoarding and administering of knowledge. It is the foundations of the species and not of consciousness that are being shaken. In the forest, a new Isis out to be engendered, and Prometheus liberated from the Caucasus by the subterranean."
															Page 341

There always seemed to be a paradox in these two consecutive paragraphs - is "knowledge" in the realm of the forests or the catacombs ... one experiments at the Tree of knowledge in the forest but hoards and administers knowledge in the catacombs. The paradox is reinforced by other circumstances in Eumeswil: Bruno, who is said to be oriented towards the Catacombs, certainly experiments with the Tree of Life, as did Attila in his laboratory periods.  Vigo, who is oriented towards the forests, definitely experiments with Knowledge, as does Manuel in his studies at the Luminar. Yet the Luminar itself is feed from the information hoarded by the subterranean in the catacombs. 

So, the forest group plays with the knowledge hoarded by the catacomb dwellers, and the catacomb group plays with Life, whose archetypal source will always be the forest. Attila in fact compares his laboratory grafting experiments to the weird hybridization that he later discovers in the post-catastrophe forest, where similar things seem to be happening naturally and with much less effort. 

A second passage partly explains the paradox and it relates to directly to your question by classifying the catacombs and their discoveries as plutonic.


	" Bruno is reticent with his allusions, but I suspect that he has lived in hollows made by plutonian and human efforts. They contain extensive gardens with a flora more splendid than that of the upper world. The constant warmth and the strange rays of light produce wonders. Botanists have released previously unknown forces of nature. I asked Bruno, "Doesn't that seem odd, since the biologists are on the side of the forests?"
	"Now you know that when Proserpine was picking flowers on a meadow, she was abducted by Pluto and carried off to the underworld."
	Of course; his answer pointed to times when luminaries of science fell into enemy hands, because of either cunning or force, and were ' turned around.' " 
Roberto Calvo:
Beatiful Thomas. That reminds me the marvelous Persefone_proserpine- Myhte. She was abducted by Pluto and carried off to the underworld. Then, her mother Demeter goes in her search. She goes to Eleusis: and that take us to the keys: drugs- wow! all is interlaced!. In Eleusis she was at first refused-"Dieu se retire", but after some maledictions people found the Mysterys- gods came again.Then she request to Zeus to take part for she. And Zeus and Pluto get an agree. Persefone keep living with Pluto in the underworld but came back every spring. Conclusions?
About this I recomend you "Searching Persefone", and "Road to Eleusis", by RGordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl A. P. Ruck, Jonathan Ott and Robert Graves. 														Page 361.

(Doesn't all this seem especially relevant in light of the recent clonings of animals. Who knows what else goes on and will go on "down there"....)

Since astrology is quite important in Junger's works, I would also mention something I vaguely recall about cycles of planetary effects on the earth - apparently Pluto has been closer to the earth over the last 80 years or so than it has in centuries. This is supposed to have caused the emergence of all sorts of "buried skeletons" and "dark shadows". It came closest to earth sometime this decade and is now moving further away, if I recall correctly. Just a symbol....but an interesting one. Does anyone else know more about this??

Thomas Friese
www.eumeswil.org