Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“From this perspective, the sacred, rather than being defined by the postulation of supernatural powers and/or beings, is wholly explicable as a product of human interaction. Although the sense of the sacred has historically aroused beliefs in the existence of such powers and/or beings, it is independent of them and can and should be so examined. Whence the importance of emphasizing the underlying identity between the sacred and the significant , between the attribution of a signifier and the attribution of supernatural status, where the common component of signifying is independent of one’s belief in the existence of the supernatural. Thus the Jewish refusal to name the divinity should be understood as a historical discovery concerning the ontology of any conceivable extra-worldly being. As I have noted, a word is itself a “supernatural” entity in the sense that it has no worldly reality as a thing . Unlike any element of our experienced reality, a word is a form , a possibility of speech or other modes of signing, one that presupposes the existence of a human community that shares its language. Let me conclude with the observation that I view the taboo that has until now precluded widespread interest in GA as a sign, not of its irrelevancy, but rather of its apparent infringement on the sacred ground hitherto trodden exclusively by the faithful and therefore off limits to scientific thinking.”

— Eric Gans, The Scene and the Obscene: The Generative Way of Thinking · Saturday, May 6th, 2023 · Chronicles of Love & Resentment