Agamben: Blasphemous praise.

Scan books on the Internet, scan a blasphemy, and search for the author Giorgio Agamben, an influential contemporary philosopher. There are ten articles in blasphemy. Besides Ode to the Gambler, which is the title of the collection, it also discusses the theme prose including patron saint, auction day, parody, desire, magic and happiness, assistant and author.

I don't know if it is because I lack religious studies that I can't really grasp the essence of many of his words. Besides, the genre of essays leads to my unclear philosophy. Even so, it doesn't prevent him from finding some bright ideas and short sentences in the article, stringing together a few ideas in his mind and lighting a few small bulbs.

It is often meaningful to understand words and study their etymology. The etymology of Genius in Latin is close to genio and generare, while in western astrology, a person's guardian star is related to the time of birth. The tradition of Roman families is to give wine, two-month-old pigs, mutton with sauce and honey cakes on the birthday of the patron saint, all to thank him for giving me. At the moment of birth, the patron saint came, endowed us with talent and talent, and made people "become" themselves, with the cosmic form of that moment. Considering the importance of the date of birth in China, the date of birth and the western personal constellation actually represent the energy given to people at a certain moment. Therefore, rather than respecting the patron saint, people should be kind and grateful for their innate talent and not ignore it. Why celebrate your birthday? In the past, it was actually to celebrate the appearance of the patron saint in the west, but now it is mostly to call friends and get together. Agamben should have read Jung's theory. He thinks that besides the sensible part, the patron saint has many impersonal parts. Those "intimacy in the unconscious region", "daily mysticism practice" and "writing with impersonal power" are all ways of existence of the patron saint. The patron saint placed in the first article of the series is very eye-catching.

Do you know where the patron saint is? Forehead. When people are confused, they often unconsciously put their hands on their foreheads, which is a gesture of worshipping the patron saint.

And what does another commonly used word "religion" mean? One etymology that agamben thinks is inaccurate is that religion comes from religare (connecting and unifying things that belong to people and things that belong to God), while agamben thinks that etymology comes from relegere (referring to the cautious and dedicated attitude that must be taken in the relationship with God, and the form that must be observed in order to respect the separation between holiness and sacredness-the expression of anxiety and hesitation before). Religion "is not something that unifies man and God. Without separation, there would be no religion, and those meticulous rituals-sacrifices-realized the function of separation.

Ha, religion doesn't simply connect you with God, but emphasizes the difference and clear boundary between "God" and "man", which is composed of a series of ceremonies. Therefore, the antithesis of religion "is not distrust and indifference to the sacred, on the contrary, it is" neglect ",that is, a kind of free behavior in front of things and their use, separated forms and their meanings" and "blasphemy" (agamben here refers to "blasphemy" to sacred categories and fields, not to a specific god) to return what belongs to God to people's use and all things in some way. Ritual is no longer sacred, and human beings have liberated sacred rituals through games.

The game is a bridge between the sacred and the evil. If I don't read agamben, I really don't know that many games originated from ancient religious ceremonies: playing ball originated from the gods' struggle for possession of the sun, the game of winning by chance originated from the practice of Oracle, gyro and chessboard are tools for divination ... holiness is the combination of myth and ritual. Through the game, we can either get rid of the myth by keeping the ceremony, or get rid of the ceremony by keeping the myth, and let the sacred things go down the altar. By secularizing them (bringing power back to a sacred mode to ensure its exercise, for example, the political secularization of theological concepts is to replace the monarch of China with a secular monarch) and blaspheming (making the power device lose vitality and using the space seized by power for the same purpose), sacredness has lost its luster.

Agamben elaborated a lot on blasphemy, mainly to show that capitalism is a more powerful religion. This religion has stopped people's "blasphemy" in various ways, so that they can sit firmly at the altar. In this ode to blasphemy, his analysis of capitalism did not arouse my great interest, but his etymological study of religion and his analysis of blasphemy and secularization opened my eyes.

Happiness is beyond your reach.

Do you want to have magic? I think. Walter Ben Longming once said that children's initial experience of the world is not the consciousness that "adults are stronger but adults can't do magic". Agamben also believes that sometimes children's sadness is due to their ignorance of magic. If they can carry Aladdin's magic lamp with them and say "open sesame" to open the treasure, or have wands and invisibility cloaks, they will be happiest. A decent life and a happy life are completely different. How can we be happy? There is an old saying that "people who achieve happiness are no longer happy", so agamben means that happiness is beyond their reach. However, he also expanded his ideas. All definitions and naming are fetters. When you liberate yourself from the name, you have the key to the wizard country.

Eschatological pictures

What kind of photographer is excellent? Can shoot the feeling of the last days and the feeling of judgment day. Why? The photo is to prove the moment when you exist but disappear.

A poor imitation

Originated from the ancient Greek epic, when the choir interrupted the recitation, the performers went into the venue to reverse and subvert the previous recitation, and changed the words to turn the meaning into something absurd. Of course, there is also a kind of "serious parody", which really expresses serious content, such as the disgusting movie Sodom 120 Days.

Blasphemy is a book that is not too thick. Because some of its contents are not to my taste at present, it is easy to read. But capturing some compelling insights is a gain. I like his explanation of etymology.

Giorgio Agamben (1942-) is a famous contemporary Italian philosopher and thinker. He has taught in Serata University, University of Verona, Venetian Institute of Advanced Architecture, Paris Institute of International Philosophy and European Graduate School. His research fields are extensive and far-reaching, and he enjoys a high reputation in international academic circles. There are many works, including Naked, Blasphemy, What is a Device, On Friendship, Church and Kingdom, Exceptional Country, Sacraments of Language and other works involving philosophy, politics, literature and art..