Materialising the occult: matter, spirit, and image in the two Bergsons

Henri Bergson was one of the most influential philosophers of the turn of the 20th century. His sister Mina Bergson was a famous occultist, artist, and feminist. At first sight the two Bergsons could not be more different from each other. The argument of the chapter is, however, that it is fruitful to interpret their endeavours as parallel practices in two different domains. Both Bergsons were highly critical of the prevalent dualism between matter and spirit in modern Western culture and concerned with ways in which matter might be “spiritualizing itself” while spirit is “materializing itself”. Both Bergsons also pay particular attention to images and imagination in this respect. For them, imagination is not simply “inside the head”, and that forming an image is the first step towards materialising something. In addition, the Bergsons understood matter in close connection to images. The chapter also argues that in some respects Henri’s philosophical ideas were even more “occult” than the explicitly esoteric practices of her sister.