"Lamb's Head On A Plate" by Viggo Johansen

The lamb of God (Latin: Agnus Dei)

The lamb of God is a symbol for Jesus Christ

Compare it with Islamic symbols (lions, swords, aristocratic titles like أمير المؤمنين) and you'll understand why Nietzsche called Christianity "slave morality."

The neoliberal regime conceals its compulsive structure behind the seeming freedom of the single individual, who no longer understands him- or herself as a subjugated subject (“subject to”), but as a project in the process of realizing itself (entwerfendes Projekt). That is its ruse: now, whoever fails is at fault and personally bears the guilt. No one else can be made responsible for failure. Nor is there any possibility for pardon, relief, or atonement.

— The Agony of Eros

In other words: the tyrant, the master, and the big brother, become internalized. And freedom is only external.

إنّ الهوى¹ والاكتئابَ نقيضان. فالهوى ينتَزِع الفردَ مِن الأنا (الذات)، إلى الهو (الآخر). نقيضُه هو الاكتئاب إذ يغمُرُ الفردَ بأعماقِ الأنا. يسعى "الفَرد المُنتِج²" في مجتمعِ اليومِ النرجسي إلى النجاح أكثر من أيّ شيءٍ آخر. فالحصول على النجاح يبرّر وجودَ الأنا مِن خلالِ الآخر. بهذا فإنّ الآخر يُجرَّد مِن وجوده المنفصل ويستحيلُ مرآةً للأنا—مرآةً تعكس صورةَ الذات. إنّ مَنطِقَ الشُهرة هذا يوقِعُ الفرد المُنتِج أكثر في شَرَكِ الأنا. وما ينتج عنه هو نجاحٌ مكلَّلٌ بالاكتئاب: فالفردُ المنتِج المكتئِب يغرق ويختنق في الذات.


¹أقرب مرادفٍ عربي لكلمة Eros اليونانية التي تعني الحب بين الرجل والمرأة ببُعديه العاطفي والجسدي.
²ترجمة مصطلح achievement-subject.

أمّا الهوى، فهو على النقيض، إذ يقودُ المرءَ بعيدًا عن جحيم النرجسية. وهو يدفعُ الفردَ بإرادته للتخلي عن الذات، وإخلاءِ الذات. فتتملَّكُ الفردَ المُحِب حالةٌ من الضعف مصحوبةٌ بشعورٍ بالقوة. هذا الشعورُ ليسَ إنجازًا للأنا، بل هديةً من الآخر.

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Today, love is being positivized into sexuality, and, by the same token, subjected to a commandment to perform. Sex means achievement and performance. And sexiness represents capital to be increased. The body —with its display value— has become a commodity. At the same time, the Other is being sexualized into an object for procuring arousal. When otherness is stripped from the Other, one cannot love — one can only consume. To this extent, the Other is no longer a person; instead, he or she has been fragmented into sexual part-objects.

When the Other is perceived as a sexual object, “primal distance” (Urdistanz) erodes. Primal distance brings forth the transcendental dignity and propriety that frees —that is, distances— the Other into his or her otherness.

Today, more and more, dignity, decency, and propriety —matters of maintaining distance— are disappearing. That is, the ability to experience the Other in terms of his or her otherness is being lost. By means of social media, we seek to bring the Other as near as possible, to close any distance between ourselves and him or her, to create proximity. But this does not mean that we have more of the Other; instead, we are making the Other disappear. Nearness is negative insofar as remoteness is inscribed within it. But now, a total abolition of remoteness is underway. This does not produce nearness so much as it abolishes it. Instead of closeness, it entails crowding.

— The Agony of Eros