The anguish of the neurotic individual is the same as that of the saint. The neurotic, the saint are engaged in the same battle. Their blood flows from similar wounds. But the first one gasps and the other one gives.
Georges BatailleRead
What does physical eroticism signify if not a violation of the very being of its practitioners? β A violation bordering on death, bordering on murder?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the meaning of physical eroticism as an act that transcends normal boundaries, suggesting it can lead to a profound existential breach.
Georges Bataille's quote explores the depths of physical eroticism, proposing that it signifies a fundamental violation of one's essence. He suggests that engaging in extreme erotic experiences can approach a state that is almost lethal, blurring the lines between pleasure and the darkest aspects of human existence, such as death and murder. This reflection implies that eroticism can be both an intensely pleasurable and a dangerously consuming force that challenges the core of oneβs being.
Themes
EroticismViolationExistentialPleasureDeathMurder
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of desire and its implications in art.
More from Georges Bataille
All quotes βA judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.
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I think that knowledge enslaves us, that at the base of all knowledge there is a servility, the acceptation of a way of life wherein each moment has meaning only in relation to another or others that will follow it.
Georges BatailleRead
Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.
Georges BatailleRead
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