Agamben borrows the ‘exception’ from Carl Schmitt (as you know) and thereby advances the discussion without any taint of alleged nazism, thereby further advancing our ability to perceive how law and state and Caesar are interlocking elements of a certain place, a constellation of relations mostly out of sight out of mind of those subjected to the ‘sovereign claims’ that shroud the emperor’s nakedness with newsprint pulp.
I wasn't aware of your book Peter. It looks fascinating and entirely up my street. I would like to read it. I've written a little (a very little) on the experience of Wetsuweten people being harassed and criminalised by the *royal* canadian mountain police for remaining on their ancestral territory: now *crown* land. Now facing criminal proceedings for remaining where they have been for ages, after the goal posts of power change around them. Still, I know very little about this and I would love to compare notes with you.
The only thing we can be sure that theological criminal, Augustine, got right is original sin. There's no way for apex predators to flourish or even subsist without taking more out of others than they give back in composted corpses and feces. No balance is possible in the borrowed time of credit and overdrawn accounts. The vultures are coming home to roost. In the struggle of all stomachs and digestive tracts against all others, adapt deeply — embrace your being as a vulture supping on sin.
Oh Dan, I would much rather stick to the beginning of this story, when God made everything, us included and said it is Good. For Genesis is much older than St Augustine and so is the noblest part of our conscience. Strange as it seems, we do have a knowing that sees all things are inseparably related, a gravity of belonging in all that exists. I am convinced that this truth is still within us, tucked deep, like a dormant seed waiting to be watered.
We are not an apex predator, we are a keystone species. The entirety of nature / the created order thrives on reciprocity - not extraction or dominance. We are the only exception - the only Caesars - in the equation.
We co-exist in the balance of mutual giving and taking, or everything starts to come apart, as we are experiencing. And, as Natalia says: original goodness is a predecessor to sin, however you might choose to define that. Humans are enormously capable of both good and evil, as we can see all around us.
Agamben borrows the ‘exception’ from Carl Schmitt (as you know) and thereby advances the discussion without any taint of alleged nazism, thereby further advancing our ability to perceive how law and state and Caesar are interlocking elements of a certain place, a constellation of relations mostly out of sight out of mind of those subjected to the ‘sovereign claims’ that shroud the emperor’s nakedness with newsprint pulp.
I think I’ve mentioned my book - federal anti-Indian law - where I rely on Schmitt and Agamben to make the case that this field of law is actually the suspension of law. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/federal-antiindian-law-9781440879210/
I wasn't aware of your book Peter. It looks fascinating and entirely up my street. I would like to read it. I've written a little (a very little) on the experience of Wetsuweten people being harassed and criminalised by the *royal* canadian mountain police for remaining on their ancestral territory: now *crown* land. Now facing criminal proceedings for remaining where they have been for ages, after the goal posts of power change around them. Still, I know very little about this and I would love to compare notes with you.
I look forward to your thoughts on my approach...
The only thing we can be sure that theological criminal, Augustine, got right is original sin. There's no way for apex predators to flourish or even subsist without taking more out of others than they give back in composted corpses and feces. No balance is possible in the borrowed time of credit and overdrawn accounts. The vultures are coming home to roost. In the struggle of all stomachs and digestive tracts against all others, adapt deeply — embrace your being as a vulture supping on sin.
Oh Dan, I would much rather stick to the beginning of this story, when God made everything, us included and said it is Good. For Genesis is much older than St Augustine and so is the noblest part of our conscience. Strange as it seems, we do have a knowing that sees all things are inseparably related, a gravity of belonging in all that exists. I am convinced that this truth is still within us, tucked deep, like a dormant seed waiting to be watered.
We are not an apex predator, we are a keystone species. The entirety of nature / the created order thrives on reciprocity - not extraction or dominance. We are the only exception - the only Caesars - in the equation.
We co-exist in the balance of mutual giving and taking, or everything starts to come apart, as we are experiencing. And, as Natalia says: original goodness is a predecessor to sin, however you might choose to define that. Humans are enormously capable of both good and evil, as we can see all around us.