The sacred

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches the sacred from several angles. Discussing Antigone, he recalls that funeral rites have belonged to the sacred since Cro-Magnon times, and that the sacred belongs to the private sphere: the dead belong to the family1. He stresses the ambivalence of the sacred, which, like taboo, both attracts and repels, the Latin sacer meaning one thing and its opposite2. This ambivalence sheds light on money, where the dirtiest is bound up with the most exalted, God and the sacred3. He also defines the sacred as what binds people together, following the etymological sense of religion, whether or not one believes in God4. He adds that without collective song, the god remains nameless. He distinguishes the sacred from the religious in the official sense, for example in Parsifal, which he likens to medieval mystery plays5. In Mallarmé, the sleeping workers bear witness to the share of the sacred in existence, through pause and waiting6. Finally, in his view there must be a sacred space set apart from the profane, one that breaks with the prose of the world, even if it is only a piece of cardboard7.

1. 1A for Antigone15 Dec 2014 · 9:27
2. 2The religion of money29 Sept 2019 · 25:43
3. 3The religion of money29 Sept 2019 · 5:16
4. 4#10 Return to the logics of the subject11 Jun 2020 · 48:34
5. 5Hesitation fascinated by hearing and by sight: Siegfried and Perceval12 Dec 2022 · 1:03:26
6. 6Mallarmé, or class struggle on the lawn31 Jan 2023 · 11:16
7. 7Sahelian Africa and imperialism: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger23 Mar 2024 · 32:25

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.