Ballard and Negative Theology

"...the 'negative theology' of apophasis cannot be expressed in positive terms. Apophasis is the absence of a belief which suggests an unnamable belief...An apophatic thinker may be opposed to every persuasion imaginable, but can only effectively express this anarchistic outlook by doing what the satirist-moralist was originally said to do:providing a warped view of conventional literary forms and societal beliefs." (18)

I found this concept of apophasis particularly interesting when considering divinity; originally, negative theology was considered an attempt to understand God, or the divine through what it is not, rather than what it is. Divinity and morality, for some go hand in hand. The characters in Crash seem subject to neither a moral or divine judgement for their actions. However, there are instances in the novel where it seems as though the crashes are an attempt to understand something more divine. The language used to describe the crashes; the intricacy of each injury, the union (by chance) of two strangers in transit, and the constant obsession with the contours of the automobiles suggest that the characters in Crash are attempting to understand something about themselves and their abstract society through these accidents. While at some points this obsession is purely sexual; but in the case of the car crash with James and Helen there seems to be something larger at work. Helen never once mentions the death of her husband, and James feels no guilt about it. This crash draws out of both of them a sort of belief that cannot be expressed positively; no ordinary or expected emotions arise from either of them after the accident. It was also interesting for me to consider that apophasis is very often allied with mysticism. Mysticism can be defined as an individuals experience of the divine beyond the realm of ordinary perception, or societal/religious structures. It seems to me like in each of these accidents, characters get to glance into the realm of chaos; of almost leaving this mortal coil, of experiencing something catastrophic--and in a sense, divine.