Holographic New Age Mysticism

In a conversation between Niklas Luhmann, Frederick Bunsen and Dirk Baecker, published in the Bielefelder Stadtblatt, September 30, 1990, p.10 wayback (see also Prozessunterbrechungen), the term "holographische New Age-Mystik" (*holographic new age mysticism*) comes up:

**Dirk Baecker**: Is it conceivable then, that was one of our initial questions, that art makes statements about the world?

**Niklas Luhmann**: Here, I think, language is not quite up to par with what should be said. We need to bring the Language back into line with our Intentions. So I would answer yes and no. On the one hand, everything that can be seen or said takes place in the world, and they are always, in this sense, statements about the world. But just not about the unity of the world or about that which can never be left.

And also not about the Whole. In this sense the theory is directed against holographic approaches, as they are offered today in the style of the New Age; somehow a trace of the whole is to be found in everything individual, somehow every element is a part in which the whole is "inscribed". The concept of Form is explicitly set against such a holographic New Age Mysticism.

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