Faustian Bargain

Faustian bargain comes from the sixteenth-century German legend of Johan Faust, a magician who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge, magical powers, and access to all the worldly pleasures – the singularity of all people. These he received but was eternally damned in the exchange.

Our focus piece (click: Our Faustian Bargain), written by the author of the recent book Devil’s Contract, posits that “Faust” is primarily an artist in that he deals in the magic of illusions, just as the novelist, playwright, or film director. The manufacture of those fantastical, dreamlike illusions rendered today would have been deemed powerful magic by our ancestors. While the tale might be autobiographical as applied to every human, the question becomes whether Faust is an allegory for the dangers of illusion extended more broadly.

That is, the author applies the term Faustocene as he holds up a mirror to modern society with its “desire for power disguised as a thirst for knowledge” to find a stained soul. Bourgeois politics itself – whether it be liberal, or conservative – is unable to recognize the threat of the fascist Devil until it’s too late. Fascism, you see, is a Faustian bargain: the national soul is exchanged for fantasies of making the nation great again. Wake up and smell the sulfur.

But, with Dr. Faust essentially trafficking in the world of illusion, we may discuss our respective Faustocenes i.e. the extent to which our very souls may have been sold for that most powerful illusion of all, the one cast by our own ego. Perhaps a career or a relationship choice, once driven by visions of grandeur or perhaps some measure of outside acceptance, was traded for some soulsucking existence.

We thereby come full circle after nearly five centuries to the initial temptation, animated by the thirst for knowledge, magical powers, and access to all the worldly pleasures – the singularity of all people. Behold the magic of the internet, social media and the illusion of connection. Well, I’ll be damned if it isn’t . . .

Good day, Dr. Faust.