In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

IMMANENCE = TRANSCENDENCE (DEATH) 381
of religion is far more complex, share some of the approaches of primitive
societies in their handling of the fear of death. These approaches
concern, above all, the physical fact of death. As a compensation, civilized
societies establish and make plausible certain taboos of hygiene and
cleanliness. Adherence to these prescriptions replaces the fear of death.
An alternative approach lies in defining death as eternal-and therefore
essential-life" (Staerke, 101). At Sigmund Freud's instigation, Staerke's
essay, with its functional interpretation of the Death-and-life paradox,
wins an award for psychoanalytic research and practice (Almanach, 93).
This is quite astonishing because, simultaneously, Freud himself begins
an essay on Death, life, and sexuality which-instead of taking a functional
approach-is in fact a remythologization. Psychoanalysis, he
claims, "derives all mental processes (apart from the reception of external
stimuli) from the interplay of forces, which assist or inhibit one
another, combine with one another, enter into compromises with one
another, etc. All of these forces are originally in the nature of instincts
... Theoretical speculation leads to the suspicion that there are
two fundamental instincts which lie concealed behind the manifest egoinstincts
and object-instincts: namely (a) Eros, the instinct which strives
for ever closer union, and (b) the instinct of destruction, which leads
toward the dissolution of what is living. In psychoanalysis the manifestation
of the force of Eros is given the name 'libido'" (Freud, 265).
Related Entries
Airplanes, Boxing, Bullfighting, Cremation, Endurance, Mountaineering,
Authenticity vs. Artificiality, Immanence vs. Transcendence, Male vs.
Female, Present vs. Past, Sobriety vs. Exuberance, Authenticity = Artificiality
(Life), Present = Past (Eternity)
References
Antologia de Blanco y Negro, 1891-1936, vol. 9. Madrid, 1986.
Walter Benjamin, Einbahnstraf5e (1926). In Benjamin, Gesammelte Schriften,
vol. 4, part 1. Frankfurt, 1972.
Berliner Volks-Zeitung.
Bertolt Brecht, "Entdeckung an einer jungen Frau." In Brecht, Gesammelte
Werke, vol. 8. Frankfurt, 1967.