Mysticism and Morality in Georges Bataille

Author(s): Peter Conner

Source: Assemblage, No. 20, Violence, Space (Apr., 1993), pp. 30-31
Published by: The MIT Press
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 Mysticismand Moralityin GeorgesBataille
Quietly,something enormous hashappened in thereal-
ityof Western of all authority,
man:a destruction a must be lookedat squarely,"he writesin that es-
in overconfident
radicaldisillusionment reason,anda
dissolutionof bondshavemadeanything,absolutely
anythingseempossible.
-Karl Jaspers,1935
"Anything,absolutelyanything":the tremulous
tone, the breathlessincredulitythat syncopates
Jaspers'ratherbanefuldiagnosisrelaysthe trou-
blingand depressiveeffectsof whatthis philoso-
pherof existenceperceivedto be a collective
collapseof confidence.Jasper'sanxioussighwas
echoedin otherquarters:in Vienna,forexample,
whereHusserl,in the sameyear,pronouncedthe
Europeannations"sick,"and calledfora "medi-
cine"to restoreto them a "genuine,healthyEuro-
peanspirituallife."'Husserl,whosetone is more
that of the experiencedand intrepidphysician,
concurredwith Jaspersthat the perceived"crisis"
indeedinvolveda loss of faith in reason.But when
Husserlwritesthat he too is "certainthat the Eu-
ropeancrisishas its rootsin a misguidedrational-
ism,"he is not simplyventuringa diagnosis,he is
in the samebreathindicatinga remedy.The
"radicaldisillusionment" bemoanedby Jaspers
wasin Husserl'sviewnot so much a causeof this
crisisas a foreseeablereactionto the realization
that the critiquesof reason-the "greatinvestiga-
tions on humanunderstanding" that wereto
guide Europetowardevergreaterenlighten-
ment-had strayedfromthe surerpath pre-
scribed,accordingto Husserl,by a more
"primordial" ideal.ForHusserl,then, in 1935,the
dreamis not over.Europecan and must striveto
correctthe waywardconceptof ratioinstitutedin
whatHusserlhad come to see as the darkesthour
in the historyof Reason:the Age of Enlighten-
ment. Husserl'scontributionis to state, unequivo-
cally,that this stageof developmentof the idea of
reasonhad been "amistake,"and,boldly,to call
fora returnto a more"mature"(i.e. Greek)form
of rationalitythat alonecan rectifyEurope'sun-
rulyways.The cureis close at hand:only more
reason,betterreason,moreenlightenedenlighten-
ment, only a "heroismof reason"will rescuethe
ailingEuropeanspiritfromdestitution.
Reasonwasbeing calledupon to mend its ways,to
heal its own wounds.In accordancewith the no-
tion of the radical,skepticalepoche,the ratio,just
as it is alwayssusceptibleto error,is by the same
tokenalwayscapableof self-correction.Errorpre-
supposescorrectibility.(SuchwasHusserl'sfaith
in the regenerativecapacityof reasonthat, invok-
ing the phoenix,he could still speakof "there-
birthof Europefromthe spiritof philosophy.")
But therewasa hitch:Husserlunderstoodthat the
crisisaffecting"oursciencesas such"wasalready
particularly acute in the disciplineof philosophy
itself,keeperof the flameof reason.The threatto
philosophyconsistedprimarilyin an invasionby
discursivedomainsinimicalto rationalthought:
"inourtime [philosophy]threatensto succombto
skepticism,mysticismand irrationalism."2
Now it waspreciselyGeorgesBataille'sprojectin
the 1930sand 40s to makephilosophysuccombto
whathe deemedto be its mysticalantecedents.
Beginningwith "TheCritiqueof the Foundations
of the HegelianDialectic,"co-writtenwith
RaymondQueneauin 1932,Bataillewasto launch
Peter
an assaulton the disciplineof philosophy:"Things
say,and it is necessaryto admitthat the dialectic
had antecedentsotherthan Heraclitus,Plato,or
Fichte. It is linkedeven moreessentiallyto cur-
rentsof thoughtsuch as Gnosticism,Neoplatonic
mysticism,and to philsophicalphantomssuch as
MeisterEckhart,the CardinalNicolasof Cusa,
andJakobBoehme."3Bataille'swilfullrewritingof
the historyof philosophytakesthe formof
Husserl'sworstnightmare;implicatingmetaphys-
ics in mysticismby questioningthe purityof its
idealistancestry,he denies Husserl'sappealto any
more"primordial" or untaintedidealof reasonas
guideto ourdevelopment.
Why is it so importantforBataillethat philosophy
acknowledgeits mysticalfoundations? Formany
reasons,amongstwhichwe mightbeginwith the
following:becausemysticismprovidesthe missing
linkin philsophy'schainof reasoningthat mightal-
low forthe possibilityof revolution,forthe "power
surge"that could"turn[s]a hesitatingmaninto a
frenziedbeing."4Bataillethereforeaffirmedthe
turbulenceof the crisede l'esprit,this momentof
confusionwhen"anything,absolutelyanything"
seemedpossible,preciselybecausemetaphysicswas
beingforcedto open itselfup to everythingthat it
hadevacuatedfromits domainin orderto consti-
tute itselfas a homogenousandhomogenizingor-
der,as a science.ForBataille,the principal
exclusionoperatedby philosophyis the exclusion
of the mystical,that surgebeyondthe discursive
knownin laughter,tears,eroticismetc. Andthe es-
senceof the mysticalexperience,accordingto
Bataille,lies preciselyin the "destruction of all au-
thority"of whichJasperswrites,andwhichcharac-
terizesNietzsche'sreligiousexperience:"Atthe
basisof Nietzsche'ssupposedreligiousexperience
is the shatteringof all possiblerespect,"he writes,
andagain,concerningZarathustra, is it-
"Morality
" Or
selfMYSTICAL EXPERIENCE. again:onlywhen
moralityitself-and Jaspers,HusserlandBataille
areaddressing nothingotherthanthe questionof
moralityandmorale-can be freelycontested,in its
veryfoundations,onlywhenthe antinomyof moral
lawcan be affirmed,onlywhen"thereis nothing
that is not in question"6 is the principleof democ-
racy-paradoxically the veryprinciplethat under-
minesits existence-fully realised.
What then mightmoralitybe forBataille?This is
difficultto say,forif each pageof Bataille'stext
burnswith the urgencyof the ethical,rarelywillwe
find anythingresemblingethicalpronouncement.
Certainly,in the absenceof an "unassailable foun-
dation"formorality,therecan be no placeforthe
kindof "truth-preaching" ethics of whichJaspers
himselfwasso suspicious.7Indeed,the notionthat
the workof GeorgesBataille-this "excremental
this contemplative"newmystic,"
philosopher,"
this thinker"enthralled by decayand evil"8-
mightharborthe groundwork foran ethics in any
traditionalsensecouldappearsomewhatsurpris-
ing. Bataille'soften morbidpreoccupations, his
difficultand ellipticalthoughtandhis apparentre-
fusalto dispensewisdomof the ethicalinflection
irritatedmoreright-mindedthinkersto no end.
The puerileanticsand questionableintellectualaf-
finitiesthat characterized the Acephalegroup-
the rituals,the secrecy,the apotheosisof war,the
30
planto hold a humansacrifice,the avowedly"un-
tenable"projectof foundinga religion-recall the
activitiesof a fraternityorderor of some extremist
or obscurantistsect (andultimatelyaccountfor
Queneau'sdefectionfromthe group).Nonethe-
less, one of the groupof men who rodethe train
into the forestto practicenocturnalritualscame
to see himselfas a spiritualdirector.As conten-
tious as the meetingsof the Collegeof Sociology
mayhavebeen, the goalof that organisationwas,
at least in Bataille'smind,"topose the questionof
spiritualpower,"with the priorconvictionthat "a
spiritualpower[is] necessary."9
The questionis:whatrolecan philosophy,andthe
figureof the philosopher,playin the spiritualdirec-
tion of Europe?Of course,as Bataillewasfondof
pointingout, he wasnevera philosopher: "whatI
teach [...] is a drunkenness[ivresse],it is not a phi-
losophy:I am not a philosopher,but a saint,per-
hapsa madman."'lNonetheless,he readwidelyin
philosophy,or at leastwidelyenoughto acquirea
distasteforit, most especiallyforits dryness.Sartre
wasrightat leastin pointingout, in his reviewof
InnerExperience, a lexicaloverlapping withJaspers,
Heidegger,Wahl andothers."If Bataillewasto as-
sumedirectorship, it wouldbe by firstdonninga
mantelstolenfromthe philosophers, the "func-
tionariesof mankind,"as Husserlhad calledthem.
The rathersillyadventuresof the Acephalecon-
tingent,whosemembers,addsone criticin shock,
"avaientdejaatteintou depassela trentaine,"'2 are
not at all the isolatedexpressionsof a naiveor
youthfulspirit.They arenot misguidedmoments
extraneousto an intellectualprogram,they are
ratherthe extremeand deliberaterepresentations
of a meditatedproject.And a projectthat has ev-
erythingto do with the articulationof an impos-
sibleethics, an entirelyothermoralitythat
dispensedwith performativeacts of repressiveleg-
islation.Is it anywonderthat Bataille,drivento
countenancethe necessityof evil, to include it
withinthe boundariesof anypossiblemorality,
wasled at times towardsa positionthat couldbe
confusedwith the otherof morality?ForBataille,
the notion that "anything,absolutelyanything"be
possiblewasnothingless than the principleof and
prolegomenato any futureethics.
We cannotknowexactlywhatBatailleplannedto
includein his projectedSysteme desmorales,but
the fact that he intendedto writeone lends sup-
portto the suggestionthat Batailleheld onto at
least "thepossibilityof an ethics."13The notionof
"thepossible,"of course,is itself a highlycharged
theme in Bataille'slexicon.An unusuallyclearly
definedcategoryin his oeuvre,"lepossible"repre-
sents forBataillehumanexistenceregulatedac-
cordingto the worldof work,a worldheld in place
by the essentiallyChristianvalorizationof earthly
industryand the concomitantpromiseof future
recompense.This "worldof project,"of meansand
ends,of sacrificeforprofitwithina finite economy
of calculation,is a worldstructuredaccordingto
the valuesof Christianmorality.Aboveall else, the
fictionof salvationservesas the lynchpinof sub-
missivemorality,distractingmindsandbodies
with usefulactivitiesin the belief that such patient
busynesswillbe rewarded,later.(It is easyto see
that this structurealsoservesthe ends of capitalist
production.Bataille'scritiqueof moralservitude
is, at the sametime, a critiqueof those power
stucturesthat operate,in differentwaysand to
greateror lesserdegrees,on a similarbasis:capital-
ism, socialism,fascism.)On the basisof a promise,
Christianmoralityenslavesits subjects,and rel-
egatesthem to the worldof the possible,whichis,
forBataille,the worldof simple,vitalexistence,or,
as he will sometimessay,"life."Thus is apparent
that Bataillecould envisagemoralityonlyin the
formof an impossibleethics.
Which is not to saythat Batailleadheredto a nihil-
istic beliefin the impossibilityof ethics.Bataille's
ethicswouldbe impossibleonlyin the sensethat it
is concernedwithhumanexistencewithoutrelat-
ing it to an escatologicalnoreven,almostparadoxi-
callyit seems,to anyteleologicalend.
Obviousdifficultiesensue. It is difficultto envis-
age, forexample,how Bataillemightaccomodate,
even withinthe purviewof an "impossible"moral-
ity, the extremeprivilegehe accordsto the self-
consuming"instant,"in whichexperienceis
unmediated.What systemof moralitymightre-
main compatiblewith Bataille'sinsistenceon the
priorityof ecstatictemporality,giventhat anymo-
ralityseems to presuppose,as its minimaland es-
sentialcondition,a momentof self-reflection
whereinthe individualcontemplatesthe conse-
quenceof an act?To the extent that "experience
int6rieure"is definedas that whicheradicatesthe
temporalfissurewithinwhichevaluationand de-
cisioncan takeplace,as that whichpossibilizes
decisionin general,it wouldappearto preclude
the possibilityof moraljudgmentaltogether:the
temporalityof the moralsubject,whichNietzsche
had shownto be one of enduranceand incapaci-
tatingtenacity,seems inadjustableto the
exigencesof the Batailleansubjectof innerexperi-
ence. If Bataillesearchesforthose momentsof in-
nerexperiencein whichbeing is "withoutdelay,"
has he not therebyprecludedall possibilityof a
moraljudgmentthat might foreseethe conse-
quenceof an actionand so dictateits course?
Phrasingthe questionin Bataille'sterms,we might
saythat moralitybelongsirremediably to the realm
of project.To escapethe worldof project(of the
possible)seemsnecessarilyto implyexitingthe
worldof morality,forprojectaloneopensup the
spacewithinwhichdeterminatemoraloptionsbe-
come possible:moralityrequiresa temporaldis-
tensionof the instant,a momentof delayor
differalthat facilitatesa consciouschoice of one
courseof actionoveranother.Bataille'sinnerexpe-
rienceimpliesa contrarymovementin that it aims
preciselyto close up the intrusivespacethat sepa-
ratesconsciousnessfromitself,and hence also
from(the) experience.Innerexperiencemeansan
auto-telicexperienceunmediatedby anyexternal
authority:obeyingonlyits own inexorablemove-
ment, it does not projecta finalitybeyonditself. It
is in this sensethat Bataille,promptedby
Blanchot,repeatedlyinsists:"experienceitself is
the authority."14
Project,whichpresupposesan effect of telic final-
ity, and moralityarethereforeinextricablybound:
"Therealmof moralityis the realmof project.""
To this extent the critiqueof projectis essentially
a critiqueof proleptictemporality,to which
Batailleopposesthe notion of sovereignty:"'tobe
sovereignly'means'not to be able to wait."16 The
exteriority-be it even in the formof the anony-
mous, unlocatableinterior-exterior callof con-
science'7-to whichthe subjectrelatesin acting
morallyhas no placein the innerexperience,giv-
ing riseto whatlookslike an ethic of instantgrati-
fication.Submissionto the instantdemands
self-abandonmentto experience:consequently,it
demandssuspensionof the calculativeoperations
of intellection.No longera subjectin possession
of itself and its faculties,this unsubjectedsubject
is incapableof discriminatingbetweenreasonand
inclination,instinctand duty,rightand wrong:ab-
solutelyanythingis possible.
This, for Bataille,is mysticism.It is the mystical
experienceof Denis the Aeropagite,who under-
went "aninwardcessationof all intellectualfunc-
tioning,"'8as it is of Johnof the Cross,Teresaor
Avilaor Angeladi Foligno,whosetexts Bataille
readsand copiesout in an intoxicatedtrance,and
whosestatusas exampleis guaranteedonlyby the
excessthat pusheseach one overthe edge of intel-
lectualand discursivecontroland into "slipping
words,"ellipsesand silence.
The questionwe must askis this:whatbecomesof
the Subjectin ecstasy?"'Oneself'is not the subject
isolatingitself fromthe world,but a placeof com-
munication,of fusionof the subjectand the ob-
ject."'9Clearly,a visionof the subjectas the
subjectnot of knowledge(of the self or the world)
but of its own excess-an ecstaticsubjectthat
therebydemandsa nameotherthan "subject"-
appearson the surfacemorethreateningto society
than a subjectboundby the valuesof reason.The
subjectof the innerexperiencecomplicatesand
seemsto compromisemoralactioninasmuchas it
opposesto the reigningsocialorder-for Bataille,
the bourgeoisorderfoundedupon the valuesof
project,sufficiencyand adequation-the violent
re-introduction of the heterogeneouselementsthis
orderhas had to banishfromits realmprecisely
in orderto constituteitself:"violence,excess,
delirium,madness."20 Is the "decnainement
des pas-
sions"the purelyexplosive,uncontainable
expres-
sionof a subjectexceedingits subjectity,out of
control,besideorbeyonditself?Is it the unpredict-
able,volatilesubjectforwhom"anythingis pos-
sible,"or areits movementsdirectedby someother
principlethat couldreplacethe principleof obliga-
tion?We findsourselvesbeforethe incomprehen-
sionarticulatedby Sartre:howcoulda subject,
definedas the ecstaticsubjectof non-knowledge,
discriminatein anysignificantwayamongstdistinct
activities,betweendrinkinga cup of coffeeand
wastingthe life of anotherhumanbeing?2'
Anything,absolutelyanythingmust be possible,
whichmeansthat "theimpossible"must come to
be acknowledgedas the impossibleand paradoxi-
cal groundof any morality.That Bataille'smoral-
ity includesthe possibilityof evil is evidentfrom
the alternativetitles he consideredforhis Systeme
des morales:"LaSaintetedu mal"and "La
Divinit6du mal."The experienceof the holiness
of evil comes only in a mysticismthroughwhich
the subject"losesits way."No doubt this insight
owes somethingto Romanticism:"Mysticism,"
writesSchelling,"is relatedto the purestand most
31
beautifulmorality,just as in reversefashionthere
can be mysticismeven withinsin."22 To which
Bataillewouldadd that we must desirethis sin.
"Thesummit,"the placeof most beautifulmoral-
ity, is a spaceof violence;to arrivethere"isto
want evil,"and to enterinto "avoluntaryagree-
ment with sin, crime,evil."23
Notes
' Husserl, "The Vienna Lecture,"in The Crisis of
European
Sciences and TranscendentalPhenomenology,trans. and intro.
David Carr (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1970),
270 and 291. One might add to this list of the "discoursesof
worry"the name of Heidegger who, again in 1935, sought to
account for "the destitution of spirit"and "the dissolution of
spiritual forces" in Europe. Heidegger's discourse, however, as
Jacques Derrida has so finely argued, is not a discourse on cri-
sis, and remains "radicallyheterogeneous" with respect to
Husserl's Crisis. See J. Derrida, Of Spirit: Heideggerand the
Question, trans. G. Bennington and R. Bowlby (Chicago: U.
of Chicago Press, 1989), esp. 60-61.
2 The Crisis
of EuropeanSciences and TranscendentalPhe-
nomenology,3.
3 "The Critique of the Hegelian Foundations of the Hegelian
Dialectic," in Visions of Excess, ed. A. Stoekl, trans. A. Stoekl
with C. R. Lovitt and D. M. Leslie, Jr., (Minneaplois: Univer-
sity of Minnesota Press, 1985), 109.
4 "PopularFront in the Street," in Visions of Excess, 162.
5 Cf. Bataille's review of FrederickNietzsche: Pages mystiques,
edited by A. Quinot, in Critique, 5 (1946), 466-7;
Memorandum,(Euvrescompletes,vol. 6, 259.
6 Cf. Bataille's essay "Lavictoire militaire et la banqueroute
de la morale qui maudit," in (Euvrescompletes,vol. XI (Paris:
Gallimard, 1988), 536.
7 Cf. Jaspers,Philosophy,trans. E.B. Ashton (Chicago: Chi-
cago University Press, 1970), 317.
8 The characterizations
belong, respectively, to Breton, Sartre
and Bataille. Cf. Le second manifeste du surrealisme (Paris:
Gallimard, 1985), 135 n.l; "Un nouveau mystique," in Situa-
tions I (Paris:Gallimard, 1971). Bataille's comment is cited
in M. Surya,GeorgesBataille: la mort d l'ceuvre (Paris:
Seguier, 1987), 410.
9 Cf. The
College of Sociology,ed. D. Hollier, trans. B. Wing
(Minneaplois: U of Minnesota Press, 1988), 358. See also the
College's testy reponse to the "Inquiryon Spiritual Direc-
tors," ibid,. 65.
'1 Methodede meditation, in (Euvrescompletes, vol. V, 218. As
an avid readerof Nietzsche, to the point of believing that he
actually was Nietzsche, Bataille would have been familiar
with the triad of "true men" assembled by Nietzsche in
"Shopenhaueras Educator,"namely, the philosophers, the
artists and the saints. These exemplary figures will "lift us"
from our moral immersion; no doubt Bataille's vision of the
drunken, saintly, mad (and artisitic) spiritual guide derives
from his readings of Nietzsche. See Untimely Meditations,
trans. R. J. Hollingdale (Cambridge:Cambridge University
Press, 1983), 159.
" See Sartre, op. cit., esp. 155, 159, 179-80.
12
Jean-FrancoisFourny, Introductiona la lecturede Georges
Bataille (New York:Lang, 1988), 94.
13
See Allan Stoekl's preface to Yale FrenchStudies, 78 ("On
Bataille"), (1990), 2.
14 Cf.
L'Experienceinterieure,in (Euvrescompletes,vol. V
(Paris:Gallimard, 1973), 19 and 67; cf. also Methode de
meditation, ibid., 223.
5Inner
Experience,trans. L. A. Boldt (Albany:SUNY Press,
1988), 136.
16 Methode de meditation, 203.
17
Cf. Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. J. Macquarrieand E.
Robinson (New York:Harperand Row, 1962), section 60.
18 Cf. Inner Experience,4.
9 Inner Experience,9.
20"The PsychologicalStructure of Fascism,"in Visions of Ex-
cess, 142.
21 Cf. "Discusiion sur le
peche," in (Euvrescompletes,vol. 6,
343.
22
F.W.J. Schelling, The Philosophyof Art, ed. and trans.
D.W. Stott (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1989), 72.
23Sur Nietzsche, (Euvrescompletes, vol. 6, 49.
Conner