Money Wisdom #353

"Get nothingness back into words. The aim is words with nothing to them; words that point beyond themselves rather than to themselves; transparencies, empty words. Empty words, corresponding to the void in things.

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Admit the void; accept loss forever. Not to admit the void is the trouble with those schizophrenics who treat words as real things. Schizophrenic literalism equates symbol and original object so as to retain the original object, to avoid object-loss. Freedom in the use of symbolism comes from the capacity to experience loss. Wisdom is mourning; blessed are they that mourn.

Kerouac, 'Belief and Techniques for Modern Prose,' 57.
Cf. Segal, 'Symbol Formation,' 395. Roheim, Origin and Function of Culture, 93."

Norman O Brown Love's Body (1966) p.259-260