syncretic streamings (--- or: body, gnosis & human adventure)

[Dave Monroe]

Thanks for the references, by the way, will have to see if the Sloterdijk is
available in translation, but I think I might actually have the Filoramo book at
home, now that I see the title/publisher, just never quite got around to it.  Not
sure if you (two?) are actually advocating any of this (I'm obviously not, which is
perhaps why I'm pursuing the issue), or if you're trying to claim Pynchon as a
gnostic, Gravity's Rainbow as a gnostic text, in some way, shape or form, but, well,
I guess I've weighed in already on just how ... problematic (to say the least) that
might be.  I agree with Terrence's observation that this "oceanic" loss of self (and
do note Tyrone Slothrop's own dissipation in a sea of drugs and paranoia), this
romanticist (not, of course, for the historical gnostics themselves, but we're all
writing from the, er, other side here) longing for a return to origins (a return to
Origen? "No puns where none intended," Samuel Beckett) is indeed, in Pynchon (and
that is our ostensible topic here, I suppose), at least (at LEAST), more often than
not associated with "annihilation and death."  Hence my claims for Gravity's
Rainbow, for the Pynchonian canon, as countergnostic. Which is hardly the whole
story, of course, but ...

But what the gnostics--"the" gnostics, of course, already being rather a
simplification, as you all know far better than I do--were "actually" thinking,
saying, writing (and all we have access to, of course, are a handful of writings,
and some condemnations bearing traces thereof) is, if not beside the point, at best
only half the story.  The question, I suppose, should be, what is Pynchon, what is
Gravity's Rainbow doing with its own (traces of) gnosticisms?  Which does seem to
make the question of, well, what are these traces, and what are they traces of (Hans
Jonas?) important as well ... but they are, again, not necessarily traces of any
"authentic" gnosticism.  Which, of course, does not preclude Pynchon, Gravity's
Rainbow form either affirming or, as I claim, critiquing them.   And, as Sloterdijk
apparently noted, criticism of a generalized, perhaps caricatured "gnosticism" was,
indeed, in the air even as Pynchon was writing Gravity's Rainbow ...

But I'd take issue with any claim that such criticism is necessarily "conservative,"
much less "reactionary."  Perhaps the point is that the apparently much-vaunted
"liberatory" or "resistant" or "revolutionary" or whatever qualities of gnosticism
need some examination.  An emphasis on the self and the transcendent, on the inner-
and/or otherworldy, as opposed to others and the material, on the worldly, on, say,
psychology and the metaphysical as opposed to the social and the ethical, does not
much lend itself to actually getting anything done, esp. for anybody else.  I'm
reminded here of that New Age "Beyond War" group, who believed that the possibility
of nuclear war could be dispelled merely by a certain critical mass (and note how
that possibility of nuclear war has become part of our discourse) of people merely
believing nuclear war would NOT happen.  Again, see Peter Brown, The Body in
Society: Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity ...


Lorentzen / Nicklaus wrote:

>
>  rain falls from the sunny sky & 3 quotes make no argument. let's listen:
>
>  "perhaps jonas was right to emphasize the anarchic and nihilistic character of
> a naturally rebellious ethic in search of a metaphysical liberty, which exists
> absolutely, in itself. it is legitimate to ask, however, if this fascinating
> modern interpretation really catches the variety, the richness and (why not?)
> also the contradictory nature of ethical behaviour that appears to us, in
> concrete terms, more complex and variegated. if a modern enquiry were possible,
> it would be even more interesting to know how self-aware the average gnostic
> was. this person, who is not simply a statistical ghost, free from the excesses
> of the orgiastic cults and the heroism of the virtuous in death, sensitive to
> the subtle, exhilarating fascination of predestination, but also more inclined
> in behaviour to live with the perception of a situation still fluid and open,
> was perhaps content with simpler motivations than those assigned to him or her
> by modern interpreters: '...return to your divine nature', is the message in the
> teachings of  s i l v a n u s, 'live according to the mind. do not think about
> the things pertaining to the flesh' 'you shall be man.'
> only by living to the full his human adventure was the gnostic able to realize
> his dream of freedom."
>
>               (giovanni filoramo: a history of gnosticism)
>
>
>
>  "the etheric dimension of force or manifest light pervades and surrounds our
> universe and every physical body. it is the field of energy, magnetism and space
> in which the lower or grosser elements function. thus, your 'etheric body' is
> the specific concentration of force associated with and surrounding-permeating
> your physical body. it serves as a conduit for the forces of universal light and
> energy to the physical body.
> in practical terms of daily experience, the etheric aspect of the being is our
> emotional-sexual, feeling nature. the etheric body functions through and
> corresponds to the nervous system. functioning as a medium between the conscious
> mind and the physical being, it controls the distribution and use of energy and
> emotion. it is the dimension of vitality or life-force. we feel the etheric
> dimension of life not only as vital energy and power and magnetic-gravitational
> forces, but also as the endless play of emotional polarization, positive and
> negative, to others, objects, the world itself, everything that arises."
>
>               (adi da: look at the sunlight on the water)
>
>   "all true religion corresponds to the cosmic, 'oceanic' experience of man. all
> true religion contains the experience of a unity with an omnipresent power, and
> simultaneously of temporary painful seperation from this power. the eternal
> longing for return to one's origin ('return to the womb'; 'return to the good
> earth from whence one came'; 'return to the arms of god' etc), for being
> embraced again by 'the eternal', pervades all human longing. it is at the roots
> of man's great intellectual and artistic creations; it is the core of his
> longing during adolescence; it pervades all great goals of social organization.
> it appears as if man yearns to comprehend his separation from the cosmic ocean;
> such ideas as 'sin' have their origin in an attempt to explain the separation.
> there must be a reason for not being united with 'god'; there must be a way to
> unite again, to return, to come home."
>
>               (wilhelm reich: ether, god and devil)
>
>  ... blue wax is bubbling in my rocket-lamp ... kfl ...
>