Towards a momentary whirlpool

Wilbur’s essay on Poe, published in 1962, summarizes the gnostic myth as follows: “The universe, as Poe conceived it, is a poetic or artistic creation, a “plot of God.” It has come about through God’s breaking up of His original unity, and his self-radiation into space; it is presently at the point of maximum diffusion, and will soon begin to contract toward a final reassembly in—and as—God. Since God, in creating the universe, fragmented Himself into his creatures … it is they who must by some counterimpulse, restore the original oneness of things… . And since the creation is a work of art, the counterimpulse that can reunify it must be imaginative. In short, the duty of God’s creatures is to think God together again by discovering, through the fusing power of poetic imagination, the primal unity in the present diversity.”

A Sam R. visual follow-up. A view from the right corner table in Paris Bar , Berlin, under Kippenbergers painting. Join in on the image, or click here to enter.