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April 15 2012

thigein & conatus

What is important is that this
contemplation without knowledge, which at times recalls the Greek con-
ception of theory as not knowledge but touching [thigein], here functions to
define life. As absolute immanence, a life . . . is pure contemplation beyond
every subject and object of knowledge; it is pure potentiality that preserves
without acting.

 

- Giorgio Agamben, “Absolute Immanence,” p. 164

 

Spinoza’s theory of ‘striving’ (conatus) as the desire to persevere in one’s
own Being, whose importance Deleuze often underlines, contains a possible
answer to these questions. Whatever the ancient and medieval sources of
Spinoza’s idea (Harry A. Wolfson lists a number of them, from the Stoics to
Dante), it is certain that in each case, its paradoxical formulation perfectly
expresses the idea of an immanent movement, a striving that obstinately
remains in itself. All beings not only persevere in their own Being (vis
inertiae) but desire to do so (vis immanentiae). The movement of conatus thus
coincides with that of Spinoza’s immanent cause, in which agent and patient
cannot be told apart. And since conatus is identical to the Being of the thing,
to desire to persevere in one’s own Being is to desire one’s own desire, to
constitute oneself as desiring. In conatus, desire and Being thus coincide without
residue.

 

- Ibid., p. 166

January 26 2012

lynching, piracy, decapitation, abject media = subjection … and excerpts from Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84

this is an ad for lynching

:

 

occupy lynching?

while nearby: piracy -

while art means action now

and action means decapitation

- the ritual slaying of Ronald McDonald

 

this is an ad

for

Rachel Lee’s

article at CTheory

advertising AFFECT

FEELING

EMOTION

intensely &

“ahead of the game”

which could be the following:

is at least what the following wants needs likes follows shares and

adverts to in a culture of “distracted tactility” [Rachel Lee after Michael Taussig, 1991]

“This reminded Tengo of a certain event, something from the distant past that he would recall now and then. Something he could never forget. But he decided not to mention it. It would have been a long story. And it was the kind of thing that loses the most important nuances when reduced to words.”

- Haruki Murakami, 1Q84, trans. Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2011, p. 72

The concepts of time, space, and possibility.

“Tengo knew that time could become deformed as it moved forward. Time itself was uniform in composition, but once consumed, it took on a deformed shape. One period of fime might be terribly heavy and long, while another could be light and short. Occasionally, the order of things could be reversed, and in the worst cases order itself could vanish entirely. Sometimes things that should not be there at all might be added onto time. By adjusting time this way to suit their own purposes, people probably adjusted the meaning of their existences. In other words, by adding such operations to time, they were able – but just barely – to preserve their own sanity. Surely, if a person had to accept the time through which he had just passed uniformly in the given order, his nerves could not bear the strain. Such a life, Tengo felt, would be sheer torture.

“Through the expansion of the brain, people had acquired the concept of temporality, but they simultaneously learned ways in which to change and adjust time. In parallel with their ceaseless consumption of time, people would ceaselessly reproduce time that they had mentally adjusted. This was no ordinary feat. No wonder the brain was said to consume forty percent of the body’s total energy!”

- Ibid., p. 275

my bookmark reads: strike!

TRIPLE DIP – STRIKE

“They’re both policemen now. Not too long ago, my uncle even received official commendation as an outstanding officer – thirty years of continuous service, major contributions to public safety in the district and to improvement of the environment. He was featured in the paper once for saving a stupid dog and her pup that wandered into a rail crossing.”

“The ones who did it can always rationalise their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don’t want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can’t turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That’s what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.”

- Ibid., pp. 292-293

I am a part of this world, and this world is a part of me.”

- Ibid., p. 855

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