DIE SCHERE #40: Text, translation, notes

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Ernst Jünger, DIE SCHERE #40: Text

In der Thebais geschah weniger, doch ereignete sich mehr als in
Alexandria und Byzanz, das in jenem Jahrhundert zu Konstantinopel
umgetauft wurde, dem heutigen  Istanbul.  Athanasius wußte, warum er im
arianischen Streit den Antonius aus der Wüste um Hilfe rief. 

Dort ging es nicht um Dinge, nicht einmal um Gedanken, sondern um die 
unmittelbare Berührung der Substanz.  In einer Welt, in der die Schere
noch nicht schneidet, doch zum Schnitt sich öffnet, bieten sich nicht
Ideen an, sondern Erscheinungen.  In der Wüste sind Raum und Zeit noch
näher am Ursprung als selbst in den Wäldern--die Heimat des Sehers ist
die Wüste, die des Täters der Wald. 

Antonius kehrte bald in die Thebais zurück.  Sie war ihm trächtiger. 
Vielleicht zählte auch der Ruf nach Alexandria zu den Versuchungen.  Daß
er ihm folgte, war eine Reverenz an die Zeit. 


DIE SCHERE #40: Translation by Gary Kern & Guenter Rebing

In the Thebais less happened, but more was accomplished, than in
Alexandria and Byzantium, which in that century was re-baptized
Constantinople, today's Istanbul.  Athanasius knew why he called
Antonius out of the wilderness to help him in the Arian dispute. 

There it was not a matter of things, nor even of ideas, but of immediate
contact with the Substance.  In a world where the shears do not yet cut,
but open for cutting, it is not ideas that offer themselves, but
visions.  In the wilderness space and time are closer to the wellspring
than even in the forest--the home of the visionary is the wilderness,
that of the doer the forest. 

Antonius soon went back to the Thebais.  It was more fecund for him.
Maybe the call to Alexandria was another of the temptations.  That he
answered it was a courtesy to his time.


DIE SCHERE #40: Notes by Günter Rebing

Understanding the beginning of #40 presupposes accepting the different
meanings EJ gives to the German verbs "geschehen" and "sich ereignen". 
The dictionaries and most German speakers will say that both mean the
same, namely "to happen," "to come to pass."  EJ gives them different
meanings here.  In Alexandria and Byzantium, the intellectual and
political centers of the time of Antonius, life was eventful and
important political decisions were made.  However, in that 
lonely desert between the Red Sea and the Nile events came to pass that
were of a different nature and are difficult to name and to describe but
which had, as EJ believes, a more profound impact on history. 

As it is often the case when EJ approaches theological matters his style
becomes not only terser than usual but also more enigmatic.  So when he
has to explain why events in the Thebais were so important he reverts to
arcane expressions like "die unmittelbare Berührung der Substanz," "eine
Welt, in der die Schere noch nicht schneidet," "nahe am Ursprung".  In
this way he suggests that in the Thebais wilderness, unlike in the
metropolitan centers of the time, something like a mystical approach
towards the divine, visions of the divine was possible and in 
fact took place at Antonius's ermitage. 

The phrase, "in der die Schere…zum Schnitt sich öffnet" probably refers
to the state of potentiality of the shears figuring in #41.  I'll try to
comment upon it there.

Even EJ's explanation why only in the wilderness such extraordinary events
are possible is again esoteric: space and time are closer here to their
origins than even in the forest.  With "wilderness" and "forest" more is
implied here than just the geographical concepts.  Here they mean
primarily correspondences to certain states of mind.  In what sense the
forest is the realm of the doer EJ has elaborated in his essay DER
WALDGANG of 1951.

Assuming that Antonius went to Alexandria out of courtesy to the
mundane world is a startling remark.  It underlines how much higher EJ
rates the importance of what Antonius experienced in the desert than the
theological decision of the first order that was at stake in the
metropolis.  Athanasius called the ermit to the big city to help settle
the so-called Arianic dispute that was rocking the Christian world of
the 4th century.  A priest called Arius had put forward the idea
that Christ could not be quite as divine as God because he was created
and thus has a beginning in time. God, his creator, has none, He has
existed since ever, and so his divinity is perfect and absolute.  During half a 
century one council after the other tried to settle the question.  Athanasius 
was banned and exiled several times when the Arians gained the upper hand.  
Finally, the concept of the essential and full divinity of Christ, the cause for
which Athanasius had fought most of his life and had enlisted the help
of Antonius, was accepted as the official dogma of the Church.  Arianism
was condemned as heresy though it cropped up again here and there in
later times.