Aesthetic Materialism

“To Dissolve Man” An Investigation into the Liquefactionist Party In the 21st century, we will have to deal both with the odious Liquefactionists and with a confused and reactionary anti-Liquefactionism, which is far more apparent and obviously horrifying. I borrow the term “Liquefactionist Party” from William S. Burroughs, who writes about the Liquefactionists in the “Parties of Interzone” section of Naked Lunch - which, as a political policy guide, is unmatched in its insight and accuracy.  He writes that, “ The Liquefaction program involves the eventual merging of everyone into One Man by a process of protoplasmic absorption. ”  He goes on: “It will be immediately clear that the Liquefaction Party is, except for one man, entirely composed of dupes, it not being clear until the final absorption who is whose dupe.” Paradoxically, Burroughs goes on to tell us that “Liquefactionists in general know what the score is.”  If they know the score, how can they be dupes...

Each of us is a theory, put forward by nature - a hypothesis, about what can and will survive.  And every one of us theories gets tested by our experience, and every single one fails.  But some theories are fecund and fertile and give rise to other theories - that is, these theories produce new theories, by reproducing themselves, but every copy of a theory is a slight variation on the original.  And these new theories will be tested in the great experiment of life and some will pass the test a bit longer and give rise to yet more theories, and thus the great research program continues.

I keep coming back to Frankenstein.  It seems to be my icon, my standard. To me, Victor Frankenstein is a hero.  A tragic hero, yet a hero nonetheless.  He is the exemplar of virtue taken to its ultimate and necessary conclusion.  If he is a villain, he is the necessary villain - his character is not something to be avoided, but to which we can and must aspire.  He is the creator, the worker, the humble servant of the ars magna .  To create, to make, to do, to live, is have one’s creation misunderstood and misunderstood, again and again, hated, until it is a contemptible, pitiable mess, a hodge-podge of this and that, a mismatched melange, a palimpsestuous pastiche, a collage of good and evil.  We all create life.  Life is something that is created.  All of our lives are creation.  We are all creating our lives, this moment, together.  But how creative are we?  How creative dare we be?  Dare we take responsibility for crea...