> Auf die Rueckkehr titanischen Wessens in die Gestalt
> des Arbeiters verweist der Zustrom plutonischer
> Energie, die voresrtst eher gefuerchtet, ja negiert
> wird als bherrscht. Das wird erst moeglich, wenn
> sie sich personifiziert.
> So, was heißt plutonische Energie? It's a little obscure...
Dear John and Jungerites: Thanks for bringing up the plutonic energy question -
you have accidentally given me the solution of a old mystery.
I explain: your reference reminded me of a related passage in Eumeswil that has
until now always struck me oddly - I could not understand whether this was
because I misunderstood Junger's terms and categories or because there was an
error in the translation (where it's underlined)
(Following on from a discussion of evolution, experiments and nature as
an experiment:)
"As little can be expected from evolution as from any progress. The
great change transcends not only the species but the entire bios. It is a
crucial loss that mere fragments have come down to us from the most ancient
documents. The difference between the forests and the catacombs seems to be
that in the former one experiments at the Tree of Knowledge and in the later at
the Tree of Life (I thought it would have been the reverse)
Attila is familiar with the forests; he has lived there for a long time
as at many outer limits. That is why I listen very attentively to his words and
even more to his silences. Likewise, more is happening in the catacombs than
the hoarding and administering of knowledge. It is the foundations of the
species and not of consciousness that are being shaken. In the forest, a new
Isis out to be engendered, and Prometheus liberated from the Caucasus by the
subterranean."
Page 341
There always seemed to be a paradox in these two consecutive paragraphs - is
"knowledge" in the realm of the forests or the catacombs ... one experiments at
the Tree of knowledge in the forest but hoards and administers knowledge in the
catacombs. The paradox is reinforced by other circumstances in Eumeswil: Bruno,
who is said to be oriented towards the Catacombs, certainly experiments with
the Tree of Life, as did Attila in his laboratory periods. Vigo, who is
oriented towards the forests, definitely experiments with Knowledge, as does
Manuel in his studies at the Luminar. Yet the Luminar itself is feed from the
information hoarded by the subterranean in the catacombs.
So, the forest group plays with the knowledge hoarded by the catacomb dwellers,
and the catacomb group plays with Life, whose archetypal source will always be
the forest. Attila in fact compares his laboratory grafting experiments to the
weird hybridization that he later discovers in the post-catastrophe forest,
where similar things seem to be happening naturally and with much less effort.
A second passage partly explains the paradox and it relates to directly to your
question by classifying the catacombs and their discoveries as plutonic.
" Bruno is reticent with his allusions, but I suspect that he has lived
in hollows made by plutonian and human efforts. They contain extensive gardens
with a flora more splendid than that of the upper world. The constant warmth
and the strange rays of light produce wonders. Botanists have released
previously unknown forces of nature. I asked Bruno, "Doesn't that seem odd,
since the biologists are on the side of the forests?"
"Now you know that when Proserpine was picking flowers on a meadow, she
was abducted by Pluto and carried off to the underworld."
Of course; his answer pointed to times when luminaries of science fell
into enemy hands, because of either cunning or force, and were ' turned
around.' "
Page 361.
(Doesn't all this seem especially relevant in light of the recent clonings of
animals. Who knows what else goes on and will go on "down there"....)
Since astrology is quite important in Junger's works, I would also mention
something I vaguely recall about cycles of planetary effects on the earth -
apparently Pluto has been closer to the earth over the last 80 years or so than
it has in centuries. This is supposed to have caused the emergence of all sorts
of "buried skeletons" and "dark shadows". It came closest to earth sometime
this decade and is now moving further away, if I recall correctly. Just a
symbol....but an interesting one. Does anyone else know more about this??
Thomas Friese
www.eumeswil.org
