Subject: Edward Moore: _Galam_
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 18:52:42 PDT


Where stands metaphor ....

Metaphor is the only thing that _stands_, is the only thing that is 
ever "erect." Metaphor sets the boundaries of our discourse, and 
creates the possibility of a center. But when we speak of a center, 
we cannot help but speak simultaneously of an _outside_ ... an       
outside that is identical to the center, being a point of entrance ...

A point of entrance is a pure tunnel, ideally, for there will be no 
traces on the walls of that tunnel of anything that might have gone
before. Therefore, the outside, which is _metaphorically_ the 
"unknown," possesses an ontological quality similar to that of the 
known center. The realization that our speech, our linguistic system,
is based on differentiality, i.e., metaphor, is as unspeakable and
as "close to home" as the "pure word" within our minds. So our 
language, being all metaphor, is an edifice, an _erect_ edifice, 
which stands between our pure "hieroglyphic" system, before and after.
But it is not an invasion, for we use it to create connections 
integral to LIFE. 

We still evoke "needs and desires" when we need to set something up
as a ground or grounding for a concept, an origin, a starting point.
The _drive_ can be either known or unknown, and therein lies the
possibility that is the prerequisite for a trip to the realm beyond
metaphor -- the _fuel_ I might say. And only music and poetry can
take us there, as well as Artaud's _idea_ of the theatre. A material
emanation devoid of meaning, yet nevertheless the product of meaning,
is the vehicle for moving from the center of the metaphor 
erection/edifice to the outside where all is free and open, and 
possibly back again. The only impasse there is the QUESTION.

The Moat ....

>From within the realm of metaphor we can speak of the "barbarian" 
outside, which needs to be kept out. But since we know that the 
marginal always invades the "central" controlling system, we know 
that the outside or the marginal will eventually leak inside. With 
this in mind, we set up a system of sorts that allows us to condition
the alien invader and make it acceptable within the realm. This is
_interpretation_, which is a totally free and unregulated act. The 
same sort of "chaos" that is the nature of the barbarian outside is 
the very law by which the interpretative system operates. The
interpretative system categorizes, but it does not deny itself the 
power to create new concepts, and new categories. Therefore, it has
the eternal power to suck up all emanations from the outside, and to
stifle all rumblings from the center.

But how can we call an infinite outside "marginal"? An outside that
is nothingness and possibility, forever in "danger" of becoming
_something_. That outside is Being, Becoming, Danger -- and Being is 
much more than a "matter of facet," for an emanation from the outside
affects the edifice of metaphorical understanding not only by adding
to it a new facet, but by redefining the center in a defensive 
movement to protect the metaphorical grounding from the chaos of
invading forces ... hence the Danger -- and that outside is only kept
outside because it has not yet developed a language, a means or
vehicle of expression.

There is something to be said, then, about all the television shows
and books about aliens coming to earth. We have a fear of invasion 
from the outside, from outer space, because we have not yet created 
or manufactured a vehicle that is capable of invading space -- by 
which I mean real space, which cannot be _seen_ in any way. For to
_see_ is to signify, if only by pointing with the finger. When we get 
down to ART we don't want to be bothered with pointing or
signifying. We want direct communication, an immediate imprint on the
brain or whatever might be the seat of emotions. The picture in the 
gallery must transport itself like a ray of light into our heads
without the troublesome medium of language. Same goes for music, 
which is never understood, but rather _felt_. I should also add that 
if music is ever "understood," it ceases to be music.

"... like a ray of light into out heads ...." What does that ray of
light illuminate? Emotions, needs and desires: the things that we
experience but which don't TRULY signify. There is a veil of
uniqueness, if you will, that separates the pure emotions (truly
unique) from the categorized emotions (cases) that are the products 
of language/metaphor.

The External, The Double ... Breath ....

We may find that what we have been calling "the outside" is really
our inner self, or being -- that is, we may find that the edifice 
which makes possible the center that is the basis for our 
understanding and communication is in fact an external structure
containing a built-in signifying system, and when the proper word or
category pops up on the "screen" of that edifice, we point to it and
immediately categorize our emotions or ideas by placing them in an
external cataloguing system ....

Our needs and desires are of two types: the truly unique, and the 
products of categorization. By this I mean that there are emotions
and ideas which vibrate naturally in our heads, are engendered by our
simple being, and the there are emotions and ideas that are engendered
by the effective action of the external edifice of metaphor/language.
This is a priori to the extreme, for what I am invoking here is the
unspeakable .... The only thing that I am claiming as certain is the
fact that we create, unwillingly it seems, a "double," which is a
supplement to our inner self -- this supplement acts _out in the
world_, and is the representative of an inner life of the self that
cannot be made known in its pure state. And to once again refer to
_gnosis_, I will state that the one who has achieved gnosis is the 
one who is aware of this essential duality of self, of being, and the
danger that is its very possibility. At every moment the "enlightened
one" is in danger of mistaking the outside for the inside, and 
vice-versa. But this danger is a welcome danger, as it is a breath --
a living gauge of the emotive vibrations of the self. The breath is 
the very origin of danger, for the expression of meaningless 
breathing brought about by emotional states is opposed to the
categorizing effects of language, yet all the while dependent upon
it, lest the breath should dissolve into immateriality. Therefore,
Danger is the perpetual possibility of becoming that which one is NOT.
And the movement of this negative becoming is not all that complex, 
for all it really involves is self-definition in language/metaphor,
coupled with a valorization of the solidity of the edifice, a love of
the erect, the rational ....

And there is no escaping it:

It is like a basting in mucous to make the internal particles slide
easily down the gullet of all that is external, creating an easy 
passage to that center which is the double of the outside. Only it is
the false double, the _doppelganger_, or possibly "golem," derived
from _galam_, which means "to wrap up" or baste, as in binding 
together with a loose external covering that can easily be torn off
and replaced or modified. The solid and erect edifice protects a
malleable center ....

"... categorized emotions (cases) ...." By using the word "case," I
am not simply referring to "an instance of something; an occurrence;
an example"; I am also bringing into the play the "container," the
"receptacle." The language edifice is the great container of all the
collected categories, of all the cases that have been categorized. And 
each category, each word or term, is like a case containing the
various traces left by its previous usages, let's say, its previous
trips over unfamiliar terrain.

So perhaps my idea of a "pure tunnel," as a point of entry, is an
impossible ideal, for every tunnel, it seems, is a tunnel or path of
recollection -- maybe artificial recollection, but nevertheless a
reliance upon traces, which amounts, epistemologically, to the same
damn thing.



Edward Moore
monsieurtexteEM-AT-hotmail.com

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