quote of the day

"The soul is, therefore, not the principle of a person's individuality, but that through which one is raised above all selfhood, whereby one becomes capable of self-sacrifice, of selfless love, and of what is highest, the contemplation and knowledge of the nature of things, and with all of that: art."

- F.W.J. Schelling, "On the Relation of the Fine Arts to Nature"


"Dionysus is a magical god...moderating all things...the one who dampens and controls ferocious fire."
-
 F.W.J. Schelling, On the Divinities of Samothrace

quote of the day

HERVIER: If I focus on the two utopias of your great novels Heliopolis and Eumeswil- 1949 and 1977 respectively-it seems that your view of the world has definitely grown more somber.

JÜNGER: Yes, but I would like to say that I do not want this to be interpreted as a prophecy about the future. At the moment, there is a portion that involves everything that Nietzsche says about his last man. For me, the last man is, above all, a phantom: man living amid comfort, as depicted in Nietzsche's Zarathustra, is only the before- last, and another will soon emerge. This is the kind of thought that comes to mind at twilight, and that is then pondered. But Eumeswil does not boil down to that. As for the period of "Passage of the Line," [translated as "Across the Line", AF] which, Heidegger says, should have posted the problems differently, I was playing an optimistic game. This doesn't mean that I'm contradicting myself, I am simply revealing facts that contradict one another. This an entirely different matter

- The Details of Time: Conversations with Ernst Junger

quote of the day

Ernst Junger (1895-1998)

HERVIER: The image of democracy proposed by Eumeswil is hardly flattering.

JÜNGER: Just what is democracy? People claim to have democracy everywhere, even in countries where it is absolutely non-existent in practice. It's somewhat the same with Truth. Truth is highly praised everywhere: but where do we really encounter it?

- The Details of Time: Conversations with Ernst Junger

Conversations with Ernst Junger: The Details of Time

Junger continues to be of huge importance for me as I finish up current reading projects and move on to new ones.  I've spent quite a bit of time with Hegel and Schelling this past year, branching out into Hegel's Philosophy of Right - and thus political philosophy has yet again entered into the margins of me developing a perspective that would inform my upcoming writing projects.

 I've never been much interested in the political until I began to realize how the political (as such) and ontologies of power are one and the same (this realization thanks not only to Hegel, but also to Nietzsche, Foucault, and Junger). 

I have argued in the past that it is incredibly profitable to triangulate reading of Nietzsche-Foucault-Junger when it comes to ontologies of power and ascertainment of political perspective. Many would assume Deleuze instead of Junger perhaps, which does work albeit from a different perspective. I think Junger works abit better over Deleuze simply because he is more "flexible" or "adaptable" in terms of optical assessment and practice.  With Junger apoliteia is quite valuable in terms of one determining what is what, without being locked into a particular political schism or schema.

As my upcoming reading project takes shape I most likely will post a reading list, but what I have so far is more topical than specifically author-based.  This all also fits with my currently developing YouTube channel (I have 110 +/- subscribers!) where I post both short ten to fifteen-minute-ish videos as well as broadcast lengthier live-streams (an hour plus) covering political philosophy, aesthetics, or sometimes less academic-natured things such as music or chatting with viewers.

That all said, here is a link to a nice little over-view of Ernst Junger's thinking. Hopefully you can see why I think he is so valuable and how he is such a brilliant and fascinating mind.

The Details of Time: Conversations with Ernst Junger (.pdf download, 3MB, HERE).

It's been awhile since I've posted music. Good friends Korine from Philly. In the vein of Cold Cave but with a great twist.

You have to begin somewhere...

My piano playing is at a beginner's level. Everyone has to start somewhere. For me, I am re-starting as I am re-learning how to play where I stopped when I was about eight or nine years old.

Filed under aesthetics.

Na’s new art station

Some objects never die

Blutleuchte (AJNA Press)

Thomas Sheehan on Heidegger's Being and Time (Mp3 audio/video)

Robert Harrison and guest Thomas Sheehan discuss Martin Heidegger and his famous work Being and Time. This is from an episode of Entitled Opinions, a podcast at Stanford University.

Hegel on Architecture and Sculpture

Great discussion on Hegel's aesthetic theory on architecture and sculpture.

Link HERE.

Natura naturans and Natura naturata

My wife's first oil painting.