Angels and demons
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, August 4, 2022
The discourses that are so often heard today about the end of history and the beginning of a posthuman and posthistoric epoch neglect the simple fact that man is always in the act of becoming human and hence also of ceasing to be so, and, as it were, to die to human. The claim of achieved animality or accomplished humanity of man at the end of history does not account for this constitutive incompleteness of the human being.
Similar considerations also apply to the discourses on the death of God. Just as man is always in the act of becoming human and of ceasing to be so, thus in the same way the becoming divine of God is always ongoing and never accomplished once and for all. In this sense, one must understand Pascal’s phrase about Christ in agony until the end of time. In agony — that is, according to etymology, in struggle or conflict with his own divinity, in his being never died, but always, so to speak, to himself dying. The only meaning of human history lies in this incessant agony and the chatter about the end of history seem to ignore the fact — yet obvious — that history is always in the act of ending.
Hence the insistence of the last Hölderlin on demigods and quasi-divine or more-than-human figures. History is made up of beings already and not yet divine, already and not yet human: i.e., there is a “semi-history” just as there are demigods and quasi-men. Hence the only keys to interpreting history are angelology and demonology, which see in it — as the Fathers and Paul himself, when he calls angels (or demons) the powers and governments of this world — a relentless struggle between less than gods and more — or less — than men. And if we can say something about our present condition it is that in the last two years we have seen with unprecedented clarity the demons being fierce at work in history and the possessed blindly following them in their vain attempt to cast out angels forever — those very angels who, on the other hand, before their infinite fall into history, they themselves were.
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, August 4, 2022
The discourses that are so often heard today about the end of history and the beginning of a posthuman and posthistoric epoch neglect the simple fact that man is always in the act of becoming human and hence also of ceasing to be so, and, as it were, to die to human. The claim of achieved animality or accomplished humanity of man at the end of history does not account for this constitutive incompleteness of the human being.
Similar considerations also apply to the discourses on the death of God. Just as man is always in the act of becoming human and of ceasing to be so, thus in the same way the becoming divine of God is always ongoing and never accomplished once and for all. In this sense, one must understand Pascal’s phrase about Christ in agony until the end of time. In agony — that is, according to etymology, in struggle or conflict with his own divinity, in his being never died, but always, so to speak, to himself dying. The only meaning of human history lies in this incessant agony and the chatter about the end of history seem to ignore the fact — yet obvious — that history is always in the act of ending.
Hence the insistence of the last Hölderlin on demigods and quasi-divine or more-than-human figures. History is made up of beings already and not yet divine, already and not yet human: i.e., there is a “semi-history” just as there are demigods and quasi-men. Hence the only keys to interpreting history are angelology and demonology, which see in it — as the Fathers and Paul himself, when he calls angels (or demons) the powers and governments of this world — a relentless struggle between less than gods and more — or less — than men. And if we can say something about our present condition it is that in the last two years we have seen with unprecedented clarity the demons being fierce at work in history and the possessed blindly following them in their vain attempt to cast out angels forever — those very angels who, on the other hand, before their infinite fall into history, they themselves were.
(English translation by I, Robot)
Victor Brauner, Demonocratic Soul, 1943. Courtesy of WikiArt.
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