EC 491

Upon Whom the Ends

of the Ages Have Come…

^{a fantasy for an apocalypse}

A Borrowed Theological Umbrella

In his book “Theory of Religion” (Zone Books, PB, 1992), Georges Bataille likens thought to a “free” brick that does not show “the price this semblance of freedom cost[s]….”

My book differs in that some of the price of the brick shows in the story told.

The basic premise of “Upon Whom the Ends of the Ages Have Come”, follows the premise of Bataille’s book, that the modern and post-modern individual has been turned into “a thing”, which results in “a negation of intimacy”. Which—to put it another way—means that one may have one’s genitals fondled, but this is done without affection, because 'reality' has been turned into 'virtuality' and consciousness has turned into Artificial Intelligence.

The question of whether “a thing” is a thing from the outset or whether it gets turned into a thing by consciousness caught up in a learning experience is a question not easily resolved, but aligns with Bataille’s description of the problem as “powerlessness” (of animal life imbedded as an immanent and “continuous being” within an “undifferentiated continuity”).

Daisy, the heroine of this story, is introduced to ‘thingification’ at an early age through an act of rape by her virtual father. This is not to say that she perceives herself as thingified—other than superficially. When I try to explain to her how thingification may come about, the results are, to say the least, exasperating and even incomprehensible. Though I try to maintain an attitude of unconditional love (conceivably the state of ‘continuous being’), there are times when it becomes self-contradictory.

It remains up to the reader to decide whether this story is real or a set up. I favor the latter explanation, because else the ‘law’ of ‘human rights’ negates the story by turning it into ‘a thing’ (as laws inevitably do with the one they punish), which then finds me hung from a lamppost by human rights advocates, who have come to replace theologians.