Repetition

Resemblance and repetition are different in kind. In resemblance, one term may be substituted for another. It is a case of generality. Generality presents two major orders; the qualitative order of resemblances and the quantitative order of equivalences. Repetition, on the other hand, concerns non-exchangeable singularities. It expresses an identity opposed to the general, a particularity opposed to the universal, a distinctive opposed to the ordinary, an instantaneity opposed to variation and a permanence opposed to eternity. Following the difference between resemblance and repetition, we find two equally different languages. There is the language of science . . . dominated by equality, in which each term is replaceable by others; and there is that of lyricism . . . in which each term is irreplaceable and can only be repeated.

There is a serious question here though. Is genuine repetition even possible? Revealing an origin which would make repetition possible is the challenge. Art seeks to enable actions which make singular changes to the differences that already exist . . . to convert one thing into another; i.e., wisdom into virtue, love into knowledge . . . to turn our daily toil into something beyond a mere natural law, into something we both choose and transcend. Daily toil, as habit, as mere second nature, is a generality. Only through its being surpassed can habit ever rise to an act of true repetition. Otherwise it remains mechanical and we remain unable to do anything new or unique. Such a limitation entails that human being is an existence without freedom (Kierkegaard) or liberation of will (Nietsche). It would be an existence within the routines of outward domination; by the forces of inner or outer nature, solely by the determinations of the already concluded. This is a fate not even worthy of animal being. It is a fate which we inherently disobey and violate. Repetition is a means by which our individuality defends its strange and matchless existence. It belongs to the realms of humour and irony; it is by nature transgression and exception, always revealing a singularity opposed to the particulars subsumed under laws; a creation opposed to the generalities which give rise to laws.