The accursed share 2

In The Accursed Share, Bataille's basic thesis is that economy should be viewed more generally, but instead is still viewed in a too limited fashion: "Economic activity, considered as a whole, is conceived in terms of particular operations with limited ends ... [economic science] does not take into consideration a play of energy that no particular end limits" (p. 22-3).

The real problem is the excess of energy (the accursed share of the title) that we must use or lose: "the global movement of energy ... cannot accumulate limitlessly in the productive forces; eventually, like a river into the sea, it is bound to escape us and be lost to us" (p. 23).

This problem has been dealt with in different ways in different societies. In Western societies industrialisation has reabsorbed energy as a productive force, balancing useless consumption and the ever-forward movement of technological invention. The Islamic world moved into military conquest for a while, then resettled in an equilibrium of inner consumption without expansion beyond its borders while opening up to and being influenced by the lands it conquered. In Tibet the effects of violence were turned inward - it is a country without military conquest, defenseless against military forces from outside. Monastic, with the divine Dalai Lamathe complete replacement of a king, Bataille explains that this is both expenditure and the complete renunciation of expenditure. Understanding necessity as the compulsion to expend and consume, he observes that Tibet "confronts human activity with its limits, and describes - beyond military or productive activity - a world that is unsubordinated by necessity" (p. 110).

The idea of potlatch as practiced by Northwest Coast Indians, and sacrifice as evident in Aztec culture serve as metaphors, analogies, and examples of the basis of his thesis. These are themselves not reducible to one single idea - nonetheless they include the notion that giving is a form of power because it induces obligation, and thus the seemingly useless expenditure of gift-giving actually has powerful consequences. Further, true wealth focuses not on what is owned or retained, but rather on what is expended or even destroyed.

Bataille is so utterly fascinating. His ideas are often unorthodox and not a little vague at first, yet they have a funny way of staying around in the mind much longer than expected.
Halfway through, halfway to go.