"Seductive because denuded of meaning"
Seduction then is almost like the opposite of information. Seduction is the mystery and the revelation, not knowing and seeing, or having know and seen. If information is entropy and information is some form of meaning(?) then a surplus of seduction is a surplus of non-meaning, seduction is a counter-part to entropy. The one fills the void of the other. Reality burns seduction away. Seduction works only as the symbol and/or in the mind. Perhaps this has some connection to the love of the self, the self of which we are always ignorant and seduced by. Seduced by ourselves. The selves we can never know. The self with an always changing meaning. The subconscious and so on. The animal within our own minds we can never invest with meaning. A place we are completely incapable (as of yet) of introducing even the slightest bit of objectivity or empiricism. It strikes me however that if we ever are capable of investing with meaning and knowing our own minds (you and your mind specifically) we would loose the seduction of the self. The entropy would accumulate. A total loss of the aura. This seems at once horrible, "ruining the moment", shining the light of meaning into our minds. But considering it im struck by the similarity to religion. Science ruining the consolations of religions with its uncomfortable truths. Yet as uncomfortable as they may be I (we) must realize the incorruptibility of this objectivity. No more seduction then when science comes a-round, all things rendered to be "just" objects. The light of objectivity. Obliterating all previous seductions.
However, taking a step back a moment, this dichotomy is too simple. Too sophomoric. A staged fight. Science, knowledge, meaning on the one hand, and seduction, religion or (perhaps) sex on the other. I wish the line of demarcation was this blatant, but its not. This medieval dichotomy collapsed centuries ago. The scientific rhetoric, calculations and percentages etc., provide no "value added" meaning. Science is seduction now, the totality of all knowledge is seduction, meaning and even entropy itself is seduction. Absolute zero, the empty space between stars, the potential of an empty cup, total control of all variables, all are terribly seductive. Science seduces us with its abstractions, science cannot quantify reality anymore than trompe l'oeil paining can reproduce the experience of looking down an ally or gazing upon a temple in the distance. Even in our rush to invest reality with meaning, to find the bedrock to build this foundation upon, we invariably reach out for that seductress, our night nurse, abstraction, hoping she will point a way back to reason for us, a way home.. She fails of course, seduction is not a game of fulfillment but of fleeting mysteries. We are left with graphs and colorful EKGs but what does it mean? Meaning destroys this seduction but, critically, meaning gives us some hope of finality. "you do not have cancer! HORRAY!" or, dolefully "we have some things we need to talk about . . .". The meaning is finality. Im not at all ready to call entropy finality however.
Seduction however is not just about pleasure fantasy but also fear. The loss of meaning, the inability to understand behavior or circumstance invokes a fear. The seduction of fear, the rise of adrenalin, the anxiety, the trepidation, "what will I do?" "what would happen if?" Seduction of terror. Seduction of horror. The abject horror, recoiling, casting the gaze away, covering the eyes, running away. Away from meaning and back into the seduction. Or paralyzed in a stasis of fear simply allowing the seduction to wash over you, to be seduced by it, incapable of reacting. Paralyzed by something almost like apathy, removed from the self, incapable of communicating with the self. Recoiling from the self, running away from the self. Tension, but not fracturing or bending, an indefinite, inexorable, limitless tension.
