The Gospel of Thomas

[Musashi Miyamoto]

Doug,

You say "Pynchon affirms the mystical experience that lies at the heart of 
Christianity (and other faith traditions)." Slothrop's epiphany is not based 
on faith, i.e. belief, past or future. As Aldous Huxley's Island puts it 
"Here and now, boys. Here and now."

Doug, had you not suggested the contrary, I'm not sure when I would have 
realized my own epiphany concerning Slothrop's Pilgrim's Progress, from a 
believer in all the beliefs that are "normally" held, e.g. family, who the 
enemy is, and other cinematic archetype/stereotype "realities" to a 
trancendended naturalist/realist. The Buddha didn't get there by faith, 
either.

BTW, FWIW, I remember when it was common to <snip> so that only the relevant 
parts of messages that were replied to were quoted.

Wouldn't hurt for everyone to consider it.

>From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: The Gospel of Thomas
>Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 18:36:19 -0700
>
<snip>
>I agree with rj, Slothrop's epiphany does have the ring of mystical
>experience -- this may be what the Kirghiz Light may have had to offer
>Tchitcherine had his heart been ready -- although I still see very little
>to suggest that Slothrop's wanderings in the Zone parallel the
>peregrinations of Jesus' earliest disciples or followers of his teachings
>in the first century after his execution while the New Testament gospels
>were being written. Slothrop's epiphany seems to me yet another example of
>the way Pynchon affirms the mystical experience that lies at the heart of
>Christianity (and other faith traditions) even as he rails against the
>crimes of the institutional Church.
<snip>
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