"When philosophy paints its grey in grey then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey in grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk." -- G.W.F. Hegel, 'Preface', Philosophy of Right.
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'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx
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resonance
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February 2, 2011
In his Space and Politics blog Gastón Gordillo introduces the concept of resonance to make sense of what is happening in the streets of Cairo. He says:
What has coalesced as a powerful, unstoppable force on the streets of Egypt is resonance: the assertive collective empathy created by multitudes fighting for the control of space. Resonance is an intensely bodily, spatial, political affair, materialized in the masses of bodies coming together in the streets of Egyptian cities in the past thirteen days, clashing with the police, temporarily dispersed by teargas and bullets, and regrouping again like an relentless swarm to reclaim the streets, push the police back, and saturate space with a collective effervescence. Resonance is what gives life to this human rhizome and the source of its power.
This understanding of resonance that focuses on the bodily and subjective dimensions of resonance is new to me. Gordillo adds that:
Ideology, slogans, and speeches are all part of resonance, but at its most powerful moments resonance is sheer affect: bodies joining forces to control space and voicing their passions through openly gestural expressions (chants, screams, signs) and, as in Cairo, violent confrontations with armed bodies sent by the state. Resonance is collective empathy so overwhelming and bodily that it defies representation. What is most unfathomable about resonance is its power, a power that has fueled all the revolutions of human history.
Gordillo draws on Spinoza to view resonance not just as affect but as intensified affectation. This intensified bodily process draws on, and empowers, what Spinoza called conatus, striving, the bodily will to live and expand life and that through resonance involves the willing participation of a plurality of bodies.
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Could not agree more! The resonnace that is on display is coming out of the dissonnace that was/is inherent in the system flow that exists in Egypt. I especially like: "These are bodies and spaces tangled in a vortex of movement, whirlwinds, and flows, for a defining feature of resonance is that it does not stand still." I am a meteorologist and have always looked at the structure of the atmosphere. At times it resonates and at other times it doesn't, we describe pressure waves as "in phase" or "out of phase" and waves of pressure, like waves of human emotion, when in perfect resonance, can be overwhelming!