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TheAntiGnosticismofE.M.Cioran

Fromdenial to denial , h is ex istence is d iminished: vaguer andmore

unreal thanasyl log ismofs ighs, howcould hest i l l be acreatureof

f leshandb lood?Anemic, her ivals the Idea i tse l f ; he has abstracted

h imself fromhis ancestors , fromhis fr iends, fromeverysoul and

h imself; in h is ve ins, onceturbulent , rests a l ight fromanother

wor ld. L iberated fromwhat hehas l ived, unconcernedbywhat he

wi l l l ive; hedemol ishes thes ignposts onal l h is roads, andwrests

h imself fromthed ials of a l l t ime. "I shal l never meet myself again,"he

decides, happyto turnh is last hatredagainst h imself , happier st i l l to

annih i lateinh is forg ivenessal l beings, a l l th ings.

E . M. Cioran, AShortHistory of Decay

Not everyone in thewor ld of "SurfaceTension,"p leaserecal l , wasaTrue

Bel iever in cosmicconquest . Thestoryhas as wel l i ts conscient iousobjectors: the

crewmember onboardtheor ig inal seedship whodares to suggest that theeffort to

colonize theuniverse is pr ideful enoughtobr ing downthewrathof thegods; the

youthof themicroscopic humanwor ld whoopposespaceexplorat ion's wastefulness;

themechanic onLavon's expedit ionwhobel ieves h is kindhas nop lace in thenew

realmbeyondthesky. Andnot al l those in the

SpaceAgewhohavethought deeplyabout the

extraterrestr ia l imperat ive see i t in as favorable a

l ight as thosewhohavespokenabove.

Somewhohaveheardus talkare morethan

readyto ins ist that theemperor wears noc lothes.

ThoughtheHudson Inst i tute wouldnodoubt

d ismiss their cr i t ic ismsas sure "toproduceapathy

anddecayonap lanetwidescale"becauseof their

skept ical v iewof technological progress , noone

candenythat their ideas, however " inhumanist"

theymaysound,are l ikewise in theair andmust be

heeded. I t maywel l be that thosewhonow

quest ionthemot ives of our growing inf in ite presumptionspeak for what oncewas

thought to betheh ighest wisdom.

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The Col lected Works of David Lavery 2

Thoughhehas beendescr ibedas aGnost ic (by JacquesLacarr iere), the

Romanianbornessayist andaphor ist E . M. Cioranshould moreproper lybethought

of as ananalyst of thehumantendencytowardGnost ic ism, themost skept ical , most

inhumanist cr i t ic in any languageofhumankind's unquenchable longing. In books l ike

TheTrouble with BeingBorn, AShortHistory of Decay, TheFal l Into T ime, Athe ights

of Despair , TheTemptationto Ex ist , and DrawnandQuartered , C ioranoffers , in the

faceofwhat hebel ieves to bethed ire need"tore in in theexpansionofa f lawed

animal" (DrawnandQuartered 34), a psychohistoryof our species ' fa i lure to adapt

i tse l f to l i fe onEarth.

Ciorandoes, i t i s t rue, speak in Gnost ic fashionofa "maleficent

genius," a "suspect providence"governingh istory ( DrawnandQuartered

37). Hedoes ins ist that "nothingcould persuademethat th is wor ld is not

the fru it of a darkgodwhoseshadowI extend, andthat i t i s incumbent

uponmetoexhaust theconsequencesof thecurse hangingover h imandh is

creat ion" (NewGods89). Andhespeaks admir ing lyof Bas i l ides theGnost ic

becauseheknew"that humanity, i f i t wants to besaved, must returnwith in

i ts natural l imits bya returnto ignorance, t rues ignof redemption" ( NewGods 97) .

But h is thoroughlyskept ical so lut ionto humankind's extremeal ienat ion is not

abandonment of thewor ld; heseeks notranscendence. Hecounsels humil iat ion: he

seeks a returnto, a s inkingback into, theearth ly. Weare autochthonsof th is wor ld,

i f wewouldonly real ize i t .

C ioran is an"epicureof posth istory," ce lebrat ing theposs ib i l i ty of "nomore

events ," a Gibbonmeditat ing "at theendofnot onecycle but al l ," but av ict imst i l l

of "theveryhumanfear of beinghuman" ( DrawnandQuartered 34, 45, 72). ("The

proof that man loathesman?"Cioranwr ites in acharacter ist ic passage: "Enoughto

be in acrowd, in order to feel that yous idewith al l thedeadp lanets" [ Drawnand

Quartered 122] . ) Cioran's ref lect ions onhumannatureanddest inybegin with the

Fal l . History, hewr ites , i s a "desert ion forward" ( DrawnandQuartered 41).

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Humankind fe l l into t imebecause i t could not abidethepeaceandtranqui l i ty of a

l i fe in nature, because i t could not endureparadise.

Infatuatedbyh is g i fts , ["man"] f louts nature, breaks out of i ts stagnat ion,

creat ing achaosal ternatelyv i le andtrag ic that becomesstr ict ly (and

natural ly) untenable. That heshould c lear out as soonas poss ib le is sure ly

nature 's wish, andonethat man, i f he wantedto, could grat i fy onthespot .

Hencenaturewouldber id of thesesedit ious creatures whoseeverysmi le is

subvers ive, of th is ant i l i fe forcesheshelters by force, of th is usurper who

has stolenher secrets , in order to subjugateandd ishonor her . ( Drawn

andQuartered 50)

Thoughheadmits that "weshal l never knowexact ly what wasbroken" in

us , Cioran ins ists that "there is a break, i t i s there. I t was there in the

begin inning" (DrawnandQuartered 41). Consideredagainst thebackdropof the

"harmonyofnature,"humanity thus"appears . . . as anepisode, a d igress ion, a

heresy, as aki l l joy, a wastre l , a miscreant . . . a weakl ing, seducedbythevast ,

exposedto fatal i ty whichwould int imidateagod" ( Fal l Into T ime 40). "Man,"Cioran

wr ites in anambiguousbut reveal ing phrase, " is unacceptable" ( Drawnand

Quartered 181) .

A certain "facultyof noncoincidence" thusdr ives our species forward: "What

f l ings us intoact ion is thenonbeing in ourselves, our debi l i ty andour

inadaptabi l i ty." Man,Cioranwr ites , "bears with in anduponhimself something

unreal , somethingunearthly, which is revealed in thepauses of h is febr i l i ty. Byd int

of thevague, theequivocal , he is of th is wor ld, andhe is not of th is wor ld." Indeed,

weare "indenture[d] h imself to e lsewhere" ( Fal l Into T ime 46, 47).

Modernityhas not changedtheessent ial natureof humanbeing. Today's

human is onlya"euphor ic infect ionof theor ig inal d isease, of that false innocence

whichawakened in Adamdesire for thenew,"but wehavenow"exhaustedal l the

vir tues of [our] fa i lure" ( Fal l Into T ime 52, 53). Weare spreadingthe infect ion; now

our "temptat ionto T itanism"threatens theEarth: "Our contort ions, v is ib le or secret ,

wecommunicate to thep lanet; a lready i t t rembles evenas wedo, i t suffers the

contagionofour cr ises and, as th is grandmal spreads, i t vomits us forth, curs ing us

thewhi le" (DrawnandQuartered 5758).

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But our desert ioncont inues. "Cut off fromeveryroot , unfi t , moreover to mix

with dust or mud,wehaveachievedthe feat of breakingnot onlywith thedepthof

th ings, but their verysurface" ("Civi l i zedMan"92)eventhesurfaceof theEarth.

"Thegreatest of a l l fo l l ies ," hewr ites in DrawnandQuartered , " is to bel ievethat we

walkonsol id ground" (80).

NowheredoesCioranwr ite d irect ly about spaceexplorat ionexcept for h is

suggest ion ( in A Fal l Into T ime ) that "useless sc ience"seeks to appeaseour

al ienat ionby"bestowingother p lanets as a reward" ("Civi l i zedMan"94). But from

hints scatteredthroughout h is wr it ings i t i s not d i ff icu lt to reconstruct h is

understandingof i ts mot ives. In AShortHistory of Decay , for example, an

examinat ionofour tendencytoward i r rat ional i ty endsbysuggest ing wheresuch

i r rat ional i ty might lead. "What l i fe is left h imrobsh imofwhat reason is left h im.

Tr i f les or scourgesthepass ing of a f ly or thecrampsof thep lanethorr i fy h im

equal ly. With h is nerves on f i re , hewould l ike theEarth to bemadeofg lass , to

shatter i t to smithereens; andwith what th irst would f l ing h imself towardthestars

to reducethemtopowder, onebyone ( Short H i story 176). In thetwent iethcentury,

Cioranwr ites , mankind's " i l l s f i l l s idereal space; h is gr iefs makethepoles t remble,"

andthey"[wr ing] fromhimacrywhichcompromises themusic of thespheres and

themovement of thestars" ( Short H i story 176; myemphasis) .

For Cioran, our inf in ite presumptionbegins in thewomb; our

otherwordl iness is genet ic . In oneof the"Stabsat Bewi lderment" in Drawnand

Quartered , C ioranoffers the fo l lowingref lect iononahuman infant : "This l i t t le b l ind

creature, onlya fewdays o ld, turning i ts headeverywhichway in searchof

somethingor other , th is nakedskul l , th is in i t ia l b lankness, th is t inymonkeythat has

sojournedfor months in a latr ineandthat soon, fogett ing i ts or ig ins , wi l l sp it onthe

galax ies" (92; myemphasis)

Tohear us talk, to l i s tento therhetor ic of theSpaceAge, as wehavedone in

th is chapter , suggests that Cioran's wordsare nomeremetaphors but rather

psychological ly candid accounts of mot ives normal ly h iddenbehind sc ient i f ic and

technocrat ic language. A lways" indenture[d] to e lsewhere,"e lsewherehas now

become, for apuer i le creatureboth"of th is wor ld, and . . . not of th is wor ld,"space:

weare beingbestowedother p lanets as a reward.