di Marco Maculotti
Like the same Nietzsche had to recognize in Ecce Homo, the doctrine of the Eternal Return of the same was inspired by the reading of some philosophers of the Stoic current, in particular Zeno of Citium and Cleante of Ace. However, it is probably up to the Chaldean Berosus the first enunciation reached us in the Western context of the doctrine of the "Great Year" and the Eternal Return: the universe is considered as eternal, but it is annihilated and reconstituted periodically every "Great Year" (the corresponding number of millennia varies from one school to another); when the seven planets come together in the sign of Cancer ("Winterfell", the winter solstice of the "Great Year") a deluge will occur; when they meet in the sign of Capricorn ("Great Summer", summer solstice of the "Great Year") the whole universe will be consumed by fire [Eliade 116-7].
THE CONTRIBUTION OF PLATO
The interpretation given by Plato to the myth of the cyclical return of the stars is found inΒ Politico (169c ff.), In which he attributes the cause of the regression and cosmic catastrophes to a double movement of the universe:
Β« Sometimes the divinity guides the whole of its circular revolution, sometimes it abandons it to itself, once the revolutions have reached in duration the measure that belongs to this universe: it begins to rotate again in the opposite direction, of its own motion. "
Behind this Platonic vision we seem to recognize once again the dual symbolism of the spiral (ascending towards the center and descending from the center), represented by the ancient Indo-European populations with the symbolism of the double swastika right-handed and left-handed. In Plato's view, the change in direction of the cosmic spiral (attributed, probably under the influence of Chaldean and Babylonian astronomical speculations, to planetary revolutions) it is accompanied by huge cataclysms; but these catastrophes are always, necessarily followed by a regeneration [Eliad 158].
This doctrine is also taken up in Timaeus, where Plato teaches that the partial catastrophes are due to the planetary deviation (22d and 23e), while the moment of the reunion of the planets in the original position is that of the "perfect time" and is placed at the end of the "Great Year" (39d): it is obviously the return of the Golden Ageand release of Saturn from its function chronic and, consequently, of humanity's longed-for return to timeless eternity withillud tempus, kingdom of Aion.
THE STOIC DOCTRINE
The aforementioned Stoic doctrine probably derived from the Heraclitean conception of fire as a productive force and ordering reason for the world: from this artisan fire the universe is generated, which, with the cyclical passage of time, continually destroys itself and then returns to be reborn from the fire in a new palingenesis, reestablishing itself each time in its original state. The Stoics, therefore, were the first to speak of an eternal return (apocatastasis) which occurs cyclically in the form of universal conflict, through a conflagration or ecpirosis which would occur whenever the stars will assume the same position they occupied at the beginning of the Aeon, thus starting a new era. Each period which is produced by the fiery spark and culminates in its destruction through the fire itself was defined diakosmesis.
From what has been said, we note how, in the Stoic vision, the order present within the cosmos is interpreted as something necessary: ββa necessity (ananke) not to be understood mechanically as the atomists did, but in a finalistic perspective, even if profoundly different from the eschatological one implied in the kairos di S. Agostino: graphically represented not with a straight line, but with one spiral. According to Stoicism, in fact, nothing would happen by chance: it is Fate, Destiny (the Days, Diana queen of the fairy), to guide all the events that take place in the world of representation. It follows that, since everything happens according to divine reason, the Logos divine is also Providence (pronoia), in that it prepares reality on the basis of criteria of justice, orienting it towards a pre-established end; in the same way, it predisposes the destruction of what must be overcome, of what its time has done, directing its destructive function towards a cyclical, continuous and necessary renewal of the cosmos.
JUDAIC-CHRISTIAN SOTERIOLOGY
The Judeo-Christian tradition drew heavily on the Stoic doctrine as regards the soteriology of the Apocalypse and the "Day of Judgment": at the end of time, in fact, by means of fire "a new world will be restored, subtracted from old age, death, decay and decay, which will live eternally, which will grow eternally, when the dead are raised, immortality will be given to the living and the world will be renewed according to their wishes "[Eliade 160].
In some way, the traditional motif of extreme decay, of the triumph of evil and of darkness preceding the change of Aeon and the renewal of the cosmos is also maintained: un common theme, e.g., to the Hindu tradition of the Yuga and that Norse del Ragnarok, "Twilight of the Gods", which will be followed by the establishment of the kingdom of the Aesir on earth.Β In other words, the final catastrophe will put an end to history (Kronos) and, consequently, "will reintegrate man into eternity and bliss" (Aion). Only then will the "Kingdom of God" come, or, in terms Pagan (Or better, traditional), the golden age of Saturn / Aion will be restored.Β Β
THE INTERPRETATION OF NIETZSCHE
Nietzsche first expounded the conception of the Eternal Return The gay science of 1882, and precisely in the aphorism 341 entitled "The greatest weight", which reads:
"What if, one day or a night, a demon sneaked into the loneliest of your loneliness and said to you:" This life, as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live it once again and countless times, and there will never be anything new in it, but every pain and every pleasure and every thought and sigh, and every unspeakably small and big thing in your life will have to return to you, and all in the same sequence and succession - and so too this spider and this moonlight among the branches and so also this moment and myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is always turned upside down and you with it, speck of dust!". Wouldn't you fall to the ground, gnashing your teeth and cursing the demon who spoke thus? Or have you perhaps once experienced an immense moment, in which this would have been your answer: "You are a god and never intended anything more divine"? If that thought took you into his power, to you, as you are now, it would undergo a metamorphosis, and perhaps it would crush you; the question for anything: "Do you want this again and again countless times?" it would weigh on your acting as the greatest burden! Or, how much should you love yourself and life, to want nothing more than this last eternal sanction, this seal? "
Nietzsche took up the myth of the Eternal Return in Thus spoke Zarathustra in Β«Il convalescenteΒ», in which he mentions the doctrine of the Aeons or of Mahayuga ("Great Year of Becoming"):
Β«You see, we know what you teach: that all things eternally return and we with them, And that we were already a thousand times, and all things with us. You teach that there is a great year of becoming, a year beyond any great limit, which, like an hourglass, must always overturn, in order to flow and run out. So all these years are equal to each other, in the biggest and the smallest things. "
... and in "The vision and the enigma":
"Every one of the things that can walk, must it not have already traveled this path once?" Shouldn't each of the things that can happen have already happened, done, passed once? And if everything has already existed: what do you think, dwarf, of this moment? Mustn't this driveway too β have been there before? And are not all things tied tightly to each other, in such a way that this moment draws all things to come behind it? So - even himself? In fact, every one of the things that can walk: even in this long way outside - must walk once again! And this spider that lingers crawling in the moonlight, and even this moonlight and you and I whispering at this door, of whispering eternal things - mustn't we all have been there again? - and walk back into that other time. away outside, in front of us, in this long horrid way -don't we have to go back forever? Β»
THE UNIVERSAL THEORY OF ELIADE
In more recent times, the Romanian historian of religions Mircea Eliade has collated countless myths identical to that of the Eternal Return of Nice. The basic idea is that in the extra-temporal moment of creation (which he calls illud tempus, "That time") the archetypal patterns of everything and all actions began to exist on Earth. Everything happened and was revealed in that moment, then illo tempo: the creation of the world and that of man, his placement in the cosmos with all that entails [Eliade 138]. However, the earthly reproductions of these archetypes show a tendency towards deterioration and decay. By re-narrating the creation myths and reliving the original rituals, man can renew his own archetypal patterns and re-establish the original, archetypal forms of life within himself.
Christianity would have partly internalized the concept of illud tempus, translating it into the eschatological metaphor of "Kingdom of Heaven" which is within us and which can be reached at any time through the metanoia, that is, through a radical change in one's attitude [Franz 31].
Eliade first exposes his universal doctrine of the Eternal Return in two works from the late XNUMXs: il Treatise on the history of religions e The myth of the Eternal Return. According to the Romanian scholar, myths of this kind are of agricultural origin, concerning the mythical and symbolic value of vegetation and its rebirth, which in essence were externalized in a series of rites and customs connected with the so-called "Sacred time", in which one takes place in the consciousness of the participants suspension normal time. Similar rites are, for example, those connected with the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, which provide for the removal of demons or the "King of the Old Year", the ceremonial extinguishing and relighting of fires, processions with masks, fights between opposing groups, carnival bacchanals and orgies, prescribed overthrow of the established order [Eliade 76].
According to this conception, every beginning of a new year would be equivalent to "a resumption of time from its beginning, that is, a repetition of the cosmogony", further adding that βi ritual fighting between two groups of extras, the presence of the dead, saturnalia and orgies are as many elements that denote (...) that at the end of the year and in anticipation of the new year, the mythical moments of the transition from chaos to cosmogony are repeated " [Eliade 77].
Tale suspension of historical time (Kronos) would bring the man back toillud tempus, at the "sacred time" (Aion) in which only primordial chaos reigned, in which there were no distinctions between men, gods and animals, but only pure archetypes existed. All this has, as we have seen previously, to do with theabolition of linear time (Kronos, the Β«King of the Old YearΒ», the "King of the Winter Sun") and then with the regeneration of the a-temporal moment, Eternal (Aion, the "Child of Light" of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the "King of the New Year", the "King of the Spring Sun"), who preceded creation. From the sacred point of view of archaic societies as reconstructed by Eliade, the creation of the world is therefore reproduced every year, and this "eternal repetition of the cosmogonic act, which transforms each new year into the inauguration of an era, allows the return of the dead to life and maintains the hope of believers in the resurrection of the body "[Eliade 87].
In this way,Β through the repetition of paradigmatic gestures and periodic ceremonies, the archaic man was able to live in accordance with cosmic rhythms, integrating with them and, at the same time, canceling historical time (Kronos), withdrawing from it [Eliade 126]. These theories have been proposed not only by Eliade, but also by the French Paul Mus, under the name of conception of "reversible time", "Understood not only as circular time, but also as the passage from profane time to sacred time, and from Time to Eternity, the" Real "which is placed beyond becoming itself" [Sanjakdar 144].
THE ETERNAL RETURN OF THE STARS
Expanding the discourse also on the astro-cosmic level, it is instead due to the French revolutionary, activist and politician Louis-Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881) a cosmic-planetary reading, so to speak, of the doctrine of the Eternal Return. In the work EternitΓ© par les astres, Blanqui analyzed the possibility of the existence of infinite parallel dimensions which, by necessity, lead to the hypothesis of our infinite doubles that will repeat or vary our gestures:Β Β
Β«Every star, any star exists an infinite number of times in time and space, not in just one of its forms, but as it is in each of the moments of its existence, from birth to death. And all the beings scattered on its surface, large and small, alive or inanimate, share the privilege of this perenniality. The earth is one of the stars. Every human being is therefore eternal, in each of the moments of his existence. What I wrote at this moment in my cell, I wrote and I will write it for eternity, on the same table, with the same pen, dressed in the same clothes, in the same circumstances. All these lands sink, one after the other, into the flames that renew them, to be reborn and sink again, monotonous flow of an hourglass that turns and empties itself eternally. Β»
Il cosmic fatalism of Blanqui, undoubtedly indebted to the mythical mentality that contradicted archaic humanity, is well explained by the following excerpt in which the author seems to refer to many of the concepts we have exposed (the cosmos as the inseparability of life and death, which is "knotted and it winds endlessly "like a snake biting its own tail or as a double ascending and descending spiral, the destiny of man within this - as perfect as it is terrifying - cosmic matrix) [Blanqui 73]:
Β« The universe is both life and death, destruction and creation, change and stability, turmoil and rest. It is knotted and unwinds endlessly, always the same, with ever-renewed beings. Despite his perpetual becoming, he has a bronze matrix with which he incessantly prints the same page. Taken together and in detail, the universe is eternally transformation and immanence. Man is one of these details. He shares the mobility of the permanence of the great Whole. There is not a single human being who has not already existed on billions of globes, long ago returned to the melting pot. One would go up in vain the torrent of the centuries to find a moment in which one has not lived. In fact, the universe did not begin, and therefore neither did man. It would be impossible to go back to an epoch in which all the stars have not already been destroyed and reconstituted, and therefore we too, who inhabit them; and never, in the future, an instant will pass without our being in the process of being born, living and dying billions of ourselves. Man, like the universe, is the enigma of infinity and eternity, and a grain of sand is like man Β»
Texts cited:
- LA Blanqui,Β Eternity through the stars (SE, Milan, 2005).
- Mircea Eliade, The myth of the Eternal ReturnΒ (Boria, Bologna, 1968)
- Marie-Louise von Franz,Β The experience of time (TEADUE, Milan, 1997).
- Friedrich Nietzsche,Β Thus spoke ZarathustraΒ (Adelphi, Milan, 1976).
- Friedrich Nietzsche,Β The gay science and idylls of Messina (Adelphi, Milan, 1977).
- Plato, Politico.
- Lara Sanjakdar, Mircea Eliade and the Tradition.Β Time, Myth, cosmic cycles (The Circle, 2013).
I seem to remember that Plato made a theory of Pythagoras his own; indeed, I seem to remember that Plato indicates the years before the return as 12900000. I don't remember, however, whether the number is a Pythagorean heritage or not