Definitions HQ

The Passion (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠both the result and the proof of an intolerable revelation: men silence the truth about violence by using violence.

The Passion (n.) gathers ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠everyone into the lynching: crowd, priests, Rome and even the disciples, who if they did not betray him either fled or stood by.

The Passion (n.) resembles ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠every ritual on the planet — the trial, the jeering crowd, the mock honours, the casting of lots, the death outside the walls — because it reproduces the event all rituals come from.

The Passion (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a nothing to historians busy with Tiberius and Caligula — and the secret motor of all the history that came after.

The Passion (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the same drama as every myth, told from the victim's side, and so the one text that can end mythology.

The Passion (n.) matters ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠because there the persecutors' representation failed, in a remote province but with an exemplary force.

The Passion (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unique not in its evil but in its revelation; to call it unique in its violence is to fetishise violence and revert to pagan mythology.

The Passion (n.) returns ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to the violent origin again, but to reveal it and so make it inoperative; we consider this primitive because we fail to understand.