Magnes = Money: A Discussion at Headfarm
Jabès: This cruel boy is special. He is the symbol of the highest power. He directs love (Venus) and war (Mars). His power becomes visible in a temple. A priest who follows the order of the ceremony is able to direct (as Magnes) a spectacle. Singing, writing and discussing Magnes is a discussion of power.
Handy: Do you think we could substitute Magnes by money?
Magnes: What’s that?
Handy: Money is today what magnetic stones were for Claudian at his time. Today money rules the world. Otherwise we cannot explain why so many children are dying. As Buckminster Fuller put it: As long as one human being is hungry, the entire human race is hungry. Jean Ziegler quotes the World Food Report of the Fao. It says: Every five seconds a child is dying because of hunger. And Ziegler adds, that there is no objective reason for this. With today’s agro-industry 12 000.000.000 persons can be supplied with food. It is possible to produce enough food for everybody. At least for 12 000. 000. 000 people. It is not a scientific or technical problem. It is just a matter of money.
Jabès: Just?
Realometer: 12. 000. 000. 000: these ciphers make me think of the power of zero.
Jabès: As a cipher or as synonym for nothingness?
Realometer: As a synonym for Magnes, when you accept that nothingness is an equilibrium. Plotin (a greek philosopher 205-270, studied in Alexandria – the library and research centre of that time, he taught after 242 philosophy in Rome. He is called the founder of Neoplatonism). This Plotin mentions in treatise VIII of the third part of his Enneads (in English; in German: 3. Enneade, Achtes Buch. Von der Natur und dem Schauen und dem Einen oder Vom Schauen) a child. This child has been conceived as the ruler of the world. It is a special ruler. Because this ruler is relaxed. He is by himself (Cacciari, Dell’Inizio, p. 431). He is peaceful. Perhaps this notion comes from Heraclit (a preplatonic writer, 520 B. C.- 460 B.C.), who mentions a playing boy, but I do not remember where I read this.
Handy: What should I do with this?
Jabès: When black is turned into white, or white is turned into black, or foreground into background, or viceversa, then the moment of turning becomes evident in its productivity. It is a moment of a fragile equilibrium. The boy is an invitation to discover how powerful subversion is. It leads to an understand of equilibria. Following the boy’ s story is a chance to conceive power as an art of dealing and managing opposing forces.
