Arlo,
I really loved reading Nietzsche, and loved reading this synopsis; it gave me goosebumps. Your insight into the code of art was very interesting. Great post! Marsha On Oct 5, 2011, at 3:03 PM, Arlo Bensinger wrote: > All, > > Accepting the risk of setting off some "nihilism frothing", I've been > re-reading Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy recently, and thought I'd share > some passages that struck me as resonating with the SQ/DQ division of the MOQ. > > I'm not making any general claims about Nietzsche or that this (or any) > analogous comparison is without nuance, or that I understand enough about > Nietzsche to represent his claims adequately. > > In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche outlines a "dichotomy", whose "tension" > creates Art. I stumbled back into this while doing some reading on metaphor > (Max Black, Carl Hausman, Susanna Langer, etc.) and the idea that metaphors > "create" the relations, rather than being passive descriptors (not my topic > here). > > "We shall do a great deal for the science of esthetics, once we perceive not > merely by logical inference, but with the immediate certainty of intuition, > that the continuous development of art is bound up with the Apollonian and > Dionysian duality..." (Nietzsche) > > I'd want to make the initial analogy that Nietzsche's "Apollonian" maps onto > "static quality", especially "intellectual quality", and "Dionynsian" maps > onto "Dynamic Quality", or more accurately the "pre-intellectual" in Pirsig's > metaphysics. This isn't wholly accurate, but I'll move through some quotes to > lay this out. > > "... there existed a sharp opposition, in origin and aims, between the > Apollonian art of sculpture, and the non-plastic, Dionysian, art of music.... > they continually incite each other to new and more powerful births, which > perpetuate an antagonism, only superficially reconciled by the common term > 'Art'..." (Nietzsche) > > In MOQ terms, this would say (more or less) that "Art" is the outcome of an > interaction between "intellectual" and "pre-intellectual" forces. "Art", to > be legible, has to borrow from the shared symbolic repertoire of those who > would apprehend and understand the "Art", but at the same time has to add > "something new", or point beyond the established repertoire into new > directions. > > Nietzsche may say its the Dionysian impulse, capture in Apollonian forms, > that constitutes "Art". > > Nietzsche illustrates these two impulses (which we'll see later has an > 'impulse towards differentiation' and an 'impulse towards undifferentiation', > that which produces forms from the undifferentiated continuum, and that which > dissolves forms back into the undifferentiated continuum), as "dreams" > (Apollonian) and "drunkeness" (Dionsysian). > > "... Let us conceive of them as the separate art-worlds of 'dreams' and > 'drunkenness'... In our dreams we delight in the immediate apprehension of > form; all forms speak to us; none are unimportant, none are superfluous." > (Nietzsche) > > Although it appears here he is equating the immediate awareness of reality > with Apollonian dream, note that its the apprehension of FORM from the > undifferentiated continuum of experience that he points to with "dream". You > can see some Platonic influence in this, as he goes on to posit a reality of > form under the reality "in which we live". But I think if we hold back a bit > and see that he's really pointing to the emergence of form from the unformed, > I think we get a better sense of the direction he wants to go. > > Indeed, he points to Schopenhauer in saying, "[he] actually indicates as the > criterion of philosophic ability the occasional ability to view men and > things as mere phantoms or dream-pictures." While this, still, plays on the > Platonic Ideal, if it was simply "witnessing form" I think it would > uninteresting to make any comparison to Pirsig. However, for Nietzsche, the > solidification of form from the landscape is only half of a story, and > dissolution is only possible if Forms are not held as Absolute and Real. > > Why do we build form from non-form? Nietzsche answers that "pictures afford > him an interpretation of life", but that more than being "mere shadows on the > wall", they are the very scenes in which "he lives and suffers". Our pictures > are not illusions, in other words, they are the real, lived scenes in which > we love and lose, laugh and cry, dance and fall to our knees. > > Pointing towards the undifferentiated continuum, Nietzsche writes, "The > higher truth [Apollonian forms], the perfection of these states in contrast > to the incompletely intelligible everyday world.. is at the same time the > symbolical analogue of the soothsaying faculty and of the arts generally, > which makes life possible and worth living. (Nietzsche) > > Interesting here, Nietzsche is not describing the Apollonian impulse towards > form as "bad" while setting up the Dionysian impulse towards dissolution as > "good", but instead that without form, without the apprehension of pattern > from the unpatterned landscape, life would not only be not worth living but > impossible in the first place. Although "form" is an abstraction, it is an > abstraction we cannot do without. > > Nietzsche refers to the Apollonian as "the man wrapped in Maya" > (Schopenhauer), "... so in the midst of a world of sorrows the individual > sits quietly, supported by and trusting in his principium individuationis" > (Schopenhauer quoted). > > This principium is summed by Wikipedia as "...the name given to processes > whereby the undifferentiated tends to become individual, or to those > processes through which differentiated components become integrated into > stable wholes." > > In short, it is the perception of form within chaos, the apprehension of > stability within flux, the sensing of coherence within the incomprehensible. > "We might consider Apollo himself as the glorious divine image of the > principium individuationis, whose gestures and expression tell us of all the > joy and wisdom of 'appearance', together with its beauty." (Nietzsche) > > But alongside the impulse towards differentiation, one has to also consider > as equally important Dionysian impulse towards dissolution. > > "Schopenhauer has depicted for us the terrible awe which seizes upon man, > when he is suddenly unable to account for the cognitive forms of a > phenomenon, when the principle of reason, in some one of its manifestations, > seems to admit an exception... at this very collapse of the principium > individuationis, we shall gain an insight into the nature of the Dionysian." > (Nietzsche) > > Thus for Nietzsche the structures of Apollonian form are at once and always > incomplete. Through "the immediate certainty of intuition" we sense > exceptions, and when we stop and gaze into that incompleteness, we find the > song of Dionysus. > > Nietzsche describes the Dionysian impulse as that which "cause[s] the > subjective to vanish into complete self-forgetfulness". > > In the following quote, I hear Pirsig's talk in ZMM about our estrangement > from nature and being one with the world brought on by not only dominance of > "rationality", but the abandonment of the romantic "groove". Nietzsche talks > about the same phenomena, a world where Apollonian dominates and Dionysian > impulses are denigrated. > > "Under the charm of the Dionysian not only is the union between man and man > reaffirmed, but Nature which has become estranged, hostile or subjugated, > celebrates once more her reconciliation with her prodigical son, man. ... Now > the slave is free; now all the stubborn, hostile barriers, which necessity, > caprice or 'shameless fashion' have erected between man and man, are broken > down... he feels as if the veil of Maya had been torn aside and were now > merely fluttering in tatters before the mysterious Primordial Unity." > (Nietzsche) > > Nietzsche continues, "He is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art: > in these paroxysms of intoxication the artistic power of all nature reveals > itself to the highest gratification of the Primordial Unity." > > Art, then, for Nietzsche is the result of a two-way rotation, toward the > forms of Apollo and towards the dissolution of all form into the Void of > Dionysus. I see, if not strong then at least, interesting correlation between > "intellectual/pre-intellectual" or even so far as "static/dynamic". > Certainly, I think, this has a strong analogy to the "code of art" that > Pirsig speculated may sit above the intellectual level, a Dionysian impulse > sitting atop an Apollonian foundation, a force that pulls the world of form > apart (Shiva) as a counter force (Vishnu) pulls form from the Primordial > Unity (Brahma). > > Anyway, thanks for reading, if you made it this far. > > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html ___ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
