Zion is a Non-Place

He shared that great post-war sense that everything was possible, and that the city was a blank slate on which we could write our dreams. Those dreams, as Webber saw it, were of non-places where we were free to be, free to do what we wanted and free to go where we wanted, regardless of where we lived, or who we were, or what town we came from.

Such were the joys of modernism, and they were so appealing that today the world is filled with non-places floating above land and history. . . . .

Borders will be torn down. Others will go up. Identities will disappear. Others will take their place. Languages will die. Others will arise. The non-places of today are the places of tomorrow. And until then, those of us who love the world will keep on passing through non-places to reach the places beyond.
- Frank Bures, Non-Places and the End of Travel

Theodor Herzl wrote that "if you will it, it is no dream." But dreams are what give us something to will for. If Zion is reduced to a sordid reality, as all reality is, what are Jews to dream about, to will for? Jesus taught that the kingdom of Heaven is within. Without accepting his messianism, I accept his meta-Zionism. Zion is a non-place we inhabit when we empty ourselves of the profane. It has no borders, and so is unconquerable.

Comments

  1. DudeJuly 4, 2009 at 8:16 PM

    ALL RIGHT, WAY TO GO BENNY! Theodor Hertzl. State of Exile. If you will it, Dude, it is no dream!

    ReplyDelete

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