DIE SCHERE #41: Notes (2)

[Rebing@t-online.de (Rebing)]

Re function and potency of the shears

Again I admit that I have difficulties when trying to understand EJ's choice of 
the concepts of function and potency in this context. Apart from that it is 
obvious that the rational pole of that juxtaposition is identified with  
function. Here the shears cut really and in earnest. At he occult (or spiritual, 
if you prefer) pole they might cut but don't. To put it more plainly: in our 
rational everyday world where we are used to handle prognoses, television and 
remembrance of things past we will all die; in that other world, however, where 
prophecy, telepathy and second sight are possible and effective we are close to 
the realm of death (or better to the timeless realm of what is beyond death) but 
not subject to it?


The difficulty derives, I think, from EJs attempt to put his ideas in a kind of 
system. You cannot have a system without using generalizing concepts. At the 
same time he tries to follow his "Bildergebot" (1) to which we owe so many 
unforgettable passages in his prose. Due to this dilemma he uses a language 
wavering between abstract concepts and visual imagery, making his adept feel 
uneasy. 


(1) "Wer in Begriffen und nicht in Bildern denkt, verfährt der Sprache gegenüber 
mit derselben Grausamkeit wie jener, der nur Gesellschaftskategorien und nicht 
die Menschen sieht." (STRAHLUNGEN 7 May 1943)

"Ich muss mich immer eindringlicher bemühen, die Sprache bildgerecht zu 
handhaben, die logischer Verflachung anheimgefallen ist. Muss überhaupt zu den 
Bildern zurück, von denen der Logos nur die Strahlung, der Anschliff ist." 
(STRAHLUNGEN 6 August 1943).

Günter Rebing