{"id":9407,"date":"2025-08-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9407"},"modified":"2025-05-04T18:55:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T18:55:31","slug":"looking-at-slavoj-zizeks-book-2024-christian-atheism-part-9-of-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9407","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Slavoj Zizek’s Book (2024) “Christian Atheism” (Part 9 of 33)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0098 Zizek ends chapter one with a section on the transition from agnosticism to pure difference<\/em>.  Oddly, the transition seems to be both transcendent and ontological.  Two triads stand out. One crosses from normal context3<\/sub> to actuality2<\/sub>.  That goes with “Christian”.  One crosses from actuality2<\/sub> to potential1<\/sub>.  That goes with “atheism”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Zizek’s configuration is not theological, it is true1<\/sub> materialism1<\/sub>, where materialism1<\/sub> blurs synthesis1<\/sub><\/em> with the actuality of thesis [in tension with] antithesis2<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0099 Here is a picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0100 The theological and ontological “causations”… er… the primary and secondary causation<\/em> inherent in the category-based nested form<\/em>… fades into the background.  Here is another instance of parallax.  As one looks at the foregrounded nested form,<\/em> transcendence and ontology shift around in the background<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this is very much in tune with Zizek’s gestalt shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0101 To me, it seems that Zizek always writes with something else in mind<\/em>.  That style goes with one type of parallax, <\/em>where one changes location while viewing the same object<\/em> and the background<\/em> changes as well.  So, the viewer<\/em> looks at the same thing (in the foreground), yet the appearance of the thing changes (with the background).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what am I looking at<\/em> in the foreground?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, it must be the petit objet a,<\/em> that is [wealth and power].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0102 How can this be, when [wealth and power] is a [substance], a contiguity… a “causality”, if you accept the term… between what is capital<\/em> and what is social?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0103 Of course, everyone speaks of wealth and power, but I ask, “Where is the referent?  What is there to picture or point to?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, it must be that… um… contiguity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0104 Maybe I should be asking, “If the inquirer focuses on [wealth and power], and [wealth and power] looks different depending on whether the background constellates as either Christ3<\/sub> or a Relativist One3<\/sub>, then why the hell do I not even register the real elements of capital & accumulation,<\/em> as well as of social & exercise of order?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0105 Oh, I suspect that Lacan has a word for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, I suspect that the word, in French, is “jouissance”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0106 I ask one of my students, “What do you want?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little psychopath replies, “All I want is wealth and power.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, the old British gentleman in the back of the lecture hall mutters, “That one will go far.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a certain way, Lacan cuts to the chase.  There are only two smoldering parts to the above figure.  They appear red in the following depiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0107 I don’t want to sound cynical, but ontological matter [and] form2c<\/sub> <\/em>is existentially contingent<\/em>.  Christ3c<\/sub> can be knocked from his throne by any interloper bold enough to say, “I am the one who stands above all worldly jurisdictions.”  Just ask King Henry VIII of England, before the moment when he is cast into hell for all eternity.  Henry3<\/sub> does a fine job in displacing Christ3<\/sub> and replacing the Lord3<\/sub> with a Protestant One3<\/sub> ruling over an overcast island surrounded by a turbulent sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that when the madness that is Great Britain<\/em> begins?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uh oh, the old guy with the cane in the back of the room<\/em> is about to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reeks of wealth and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little psychopath is all ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0108 Can anyone imagine a British version of Slavoj Zizek?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, maybe I should ask, “Can anyone imagine a re-telling of British history<\/em> from Zizek’s point of view?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would be a tale of a system3c<\/sub>,<\/em> run by the One Who Relativizes All Jurisdictions3c<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be a yarn about [wealth and power]2c<\/sub> and jouissance1c<\/sub>, Lacan’s designation for the potential of ‘synthetic truth’1c<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could it not be a story of sovereign self-justification?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could it not be staged in the city of London?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0098 Zizek ends chapter one with a section on the transition from agnosticism to pure difference.  Oddly, the transition seems to be both transcendent and ontological.  Two triads stand out. One crosses from normal context3 to actuality2.  That goes with “Christian”.  One crosses from actuality2 to potential1.  That goes with “atheism”. But, Zizek’s configuration is not theological, it is true1 materialism1, where materialism1 blurs synthesis1 with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Slavoj Zizek's Book (2024) "Christian Atheism" (Part 9 of 33) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9407\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Slavoj Zizek's Book (2024) "Christian Atheism" (Part 9 of 33) - An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"0098 Zizek ends chapter one with a section on the transition from agnosticism to pure difference.  Oddly, the transition seems to be both transcendent and ontological.  Two triads stand out. 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