62 APrivirias aerweEN mEPRODUCTION AND DEATHL reproduction (often the most perfect things take shape eciatingly through successive modifications). But we perceive thei unity none the less: we feel we are dealing ‘uth an indivisible comple, ust as if man had once and for {i realised how imposible ii for nature (asa given force) {cut from the beings that she Beings forth their participa: ton in the destructive and implacable frenzy that animates her, Nature demands their surrender; or eather she asks them to go crashing headlong to their own ruin. Humanity ‘became possible atthe instant when, seized by an insur- mountable dizziness, man ted to answer “No” ‘Man teed? In fact men have never defintely ssid rm to vilence (fo the excessive urges in. question). In their weaker moments they have resisted natures current ‘bat this isa momentary suspension and not a final stand sal ‘We mus now examine the transgressions that lie beyond the taboos. TRANSGRESSION ‘The tranceresion does not deny the taboo but transcends it and amples Tris not only the great variety of their subjects but also 3 cenain Wlogicality that makes i difficult to discuss taboos SFwo diametrically opposed views are alvays possible on TRy sabjece There exists no. prohibition that cannot be fansgrensd, Often the transgression is permitted, often :t {Seven presedbed, {We Tel ike laughing when we consider the solemn com- ‘mandment "Thou shalt not kl” followed by a blessing on Ermies and the Te Deum of the apotheoss. No beating Sour the bush; rmurder fs connived at immediatly aftr being banned! The violence of War certainly betrays the ‘Gort of the New Testament, but it does not oppose the God. GE Armies of the Od Testament in the same way. Ifthe Drohibition were a reasonable one it would mean that ars Would be forbidden and we should be confronted with a Ghoice: to ban war and todo everything posible to abolish Iria assassination; oF else to Aight and co accept the law {B hiypocriical, But the taboos on which the world of reason {S fomnded are not rational for all that_ To begin with, « faim opposite to violence would not sufce to draw a clr fine between the two worlds Ifthe opposition did no itself draw upon violence in some way, if some violent negative {emotion dd not make violence horibe for everyone, reason Sone could not define thore shifung limits authoritatively Gough Only unreasoning dread and terror could survive Inthe teeth ofthe forces let loose, This isthe nature ofthe taboo which makes workd of calm reason possible but is 6ite basically a shudder appealing not to rearon but 10 FESings just as violence i. Human violence is the rel Aenea ealcultion but of emotional states: ange, feat Pelgmire) We have fo take into consideration the irational Shaure of taboos if we want to understand the indifference ‘lope they constantly daplay. Ta the sphere of irrational (behaviour we ate reviewing We have to say: "Sometimes an anatble taboo is voted, ur that does not mean 10 ss) thot as ceased to be intangible.” We ean even go as far a the absurd propostion: "The taboo 8 there in order 10 be alate” Fhe proposition isnot the Wager i Tooks Uke a Fier but an accurate statement of an inevitable connection ‘awween conflicting emotions. When a negative motion has the upper hand we munt obey the taboo. When a positive ‘Ghotion is in the ascendent we violate st Such a violation Sar noe deny or suppress the contrary emotion, but justify Fe and arouse it We should ot be frightened of vilence in the same way if we did not Know of atleast obscurely sense tha it could fead us to werse things. "The statement: "The taboo is there t0 be violated” ought tomate sense of the fact that the taboo on murder, universal ‘Bough i may be, nowhere opposes wat. 1am even con- ‘ince that without the peobition war would be impossibie tnd inconceivable! ‘Animals, recognising no taboos, have never progressed from the fights they take part in othe organised undertaking ‘of war. War ina way Boils down to the collective organisation ff aggresive urges, Like work I 8 organised by the com- fmumiys like wook ic as a prpose, it the answer to the Considered intention of those who wage it. We cannot s8y therefore that war and Violence are in confit. Bur wa is ‘rganised. violence. ‘The transgression of the taboo is not ‘nimal violence. It # violence sll, used by a creature Eapable of reason (putting his knowledge to the service of ‘Satence forthe time being). At the very east the taboo is the thresold beyond sehich murder is posibies and forthe Community war comes about when the threshold is crossed. _ {TRANSORESSION 6 Ie smereion pons moe mre te fabo0 cnc, ro animal violence. But nothing ofthe Kind i so Ss ransgresson together sith the taboo make sci rie ii The frequeney—and the reglariy—o a0 Me do ne alec the intangible stabity ofthe probit resse they are its expected complement—just a3 the Waecais movement completes a systolic one, of just a ‘iaion follows upon compression. ‘The compression is SePuibservict to the explosion, far fram it i gives it Pet cased force This 1ooks ke a new idea though i is fBursed on immemorial experience. But it runs counter © fhe worl of speech from which seence is derived and that {Be thy itis found stated only recently. Marcel Mauss, ps the most remarkable interpreter of the Bistory Pefcigion, was conscious of it and formulated it i his Gh teaching, bur his printed work brings it out only in Mal aunber of significant seatences. Only Roger Gallo, folowing’ Mauss's teaching and. advice, as fully exsmined this aspect of transgression in his “Theory ‘of Cdebrations”! Transgression without ints ‘Often the transgression of taboo i no less subject to ule than the taboo islf. No liberty here. “At such and Sich atime and up toa certain point this is permissible” thar is whe the transgression concedes, But once limited Hieeace has been allowed, unlimited urges towards violence thay break forth. ‘The baries ace noe merely raised, for it fay even be necesary at the moment of transgression {Baer their slit. Concern over a rule is sometime at its host acute when that rule # being broken, fori s harder fOlimit« disturbance already bes. However, in exceptional case unlimited transgression is soncewableca ‘TRANsonssston Let me give you 4 noteworthy instance. It can happen that violence over-eaches the bound ofthe taboo in some twa. Te sems-—ie may seem-—that once the la has become powerless there is nothing to keep viclence Gemly within oun in the future. Basically death contravenes the taboo against the violence which is supposedly its cause. Mow Frequently the subsequent sense of rupture brings in its ‘wake a minor disturbance which funeral ites and festvitie: ‘with their ordered ritual, serting bounds vo disordesy urges, fre able to absorb. But i death prevails over s sovereign ‘whose exalted position might scem to be a guarantee against ity that sense of rupture gets the upper hand dha disorder knows no bound, Cailois has descsibed the behaviour of cersin oceanic people. “When social and natural life” he says! “are summed up in the sacred person of aking, the hour of his death deter ‘mines the erlteal instant and loores ritual licence. ‘This licence corresponds closely withthe importance of the cata strophe. The sacrilege has socal nature. Ie committed 1 the expense of the ingship, the heirarchy and. the ‘sablsied powers. No hin of resistance is ever offered to ‘the frenzy of the people. This ts considered a wecessary 2s obedience to the dead man was, In the Sandwich Islands the people on learning of the King’s death commit all the fc Toaked on as criminal in ordinary times: they set Dulldngs en fie, they loot and they murder, while women ae expected ro prosuute themselves publically «In the Fi Islands the consequences are cven more clearly defined ‘The death of the chief gives the signal for pillage, subject tubes invade the capital and indulge in every form of bgandage and depresation "Yet these wansgresions sill constitute a sacrilege. They ‘break the vules chat were in force yerterday and which wil be restored tomorrow, sacred and inviolable. They appear in fact as major acts of sacrilege” "Opt ee ANsGRESSION 6 See en Satara ree es ace eee ee ee ee cae se cce n ee eee oe noe sore eee eae ee ree eee es ees ee | resets ere secs ee ree es ae ee ee eee res Sees ees ea ers ee as al eee eas ee rennerTe sacred world depends on limited att of transgression Its the world of celebrations, sovereign rules and Goa. ‘This approach is a dificult one, sn that sacred simulian ously has two contradictory meanings. Whatever is the Subject of a prohibition is basically sacred. The taboo gives Segre definition of the sacred object and inspires ‘with ae on the religious plane. Caried to extremes that Tesling becomes one of devotion and adoration. ‘The gods who sncamate this sacred essence put Tear into che heats ‘of thote who reverence them, yet men do reverence them fone the let. Men are rwayed by two simulfaneous emo tons: they are driven avy by terror and drawn by an aed faecination, ‘Taboo and transgresion reflect these ‘contradictory urges. The taboo would Torbid the tans fression but the fescnation compels it. Taboos and the ‘ivine are opposed to each other sm ane sense oaly, forthe Sacred aspect of the taboo is what draws men cowards it fd teansigures the orginal interdiction. The often inter {ined themes of mythology spring from these factors. “The only clear and comprehensible distinction bevween these two aspects of the taboo is an economic one. Taboo: te there © make work posible; work is productive; uring the profane period alloted to work consumption is reduced to the minimum consistent with continued production, Sacred days though are feast days, Then things which usally are forbidden are permitted or even required, though the ‘upheaval is not necessarily as cota as that following the ‘esth of a king. ‘The values of the workaday world are inverted, a Catllois har pointed out! From an economie standpoint the eserves aevumolated during penods of work fare squandered extravagantly at feast mes. Here is a clear fut distinction. We are not pechaps justified in aserting ‘that religion is bused on breaking the rules rather than on the les themselves but feast days depend on a readiness to make great inroads upon savings and feast days ae the crown of religious acvty. Getting and spending are the rari sacs cpovrmnt bacerads followed by & aan Bees eter anen win ie mene powers~ ‘TRANSORESSION In order to define the nature and implications of tans- srcssion, eater than lea complex cases I shall desribe the Pew reached by overwhelming religious experience, Ghrisian or Buddhist, where acts of transgression arc fccomplised, First, however, T must tur t0 fess complex forms of transgression. T shall speak of war and sacrifice and then of physical erciism. MURDER, HUNTING AND WAR Carian “Transaression outside well defined limits is rare; within ‘ham taboos may well be violated in accordance with rules ar rua! or atleast custom dictate and organise. Mth alternation of taboo and transgression which other~ swine would be hard to grasp i most clay seen in eros, nh other hand a coherent picture of erotics would be Taposible unless this swing from taboo to transgression sii beck, in the main religious phenomenon, is taken into ‘Teoune. But first let us consider the associations of death. Tris noteworthy thatthe taboo surrounding the dead has bo complementary dese running counter to the revulsion. IR fat sight sexual objects exete alternate attraction and fepulsion, hence the taboo and its suspension, Freud based fis interpretation of the taboo on the primal necessity of ecting a protective barrier against excesive desires bearing Spon objects of obvious frailty. If he goes on to discuss the ‘boo on touching 4 corpse he must imply thatthe taboo Protected the corpse from other people's desie t0 eat it This isa deste mo longer active i Us, one we never feel flow. Archaic society however, do show the taboo a Alternatively in force and suspended. Man is never looked Spon as butchers’ mest, bt he is frequently eaten ritually ‘The man who eats human flesh knows full well that this 3 fogbidden act; knosring this taboo to be fundamental he ‘will cligously violate Ht nevertheles. ‘There isa significant fkimplein the communion fest following on the sacrifice ‘The human flesh that is eaten then is held as sacred we are fowhere neat a scurm so the simple animal Ignorance of