"underlying causative process"

[David Morris]

Everything you say here is in the books.  Pynchon seems to suggest the need 
for both grandiose and small acts of resistance.  The grandiose ones tend to 
lead toward martyrdom, as in Weed Atman's case.  "Street-action" is 
portrayed as exhilarating and a vehicle for "pure action," and this kind 
direct confrontation seems to be portrayed as the most "honest" choice, all 
others being a form of compromise.  The eruptions of this kind of action are 
also portrayed as almost inevitable and unconscious manifestations of an 
underlying reality which is the "daisy-chain" of the cosmos.  And though 
these valorous in-your-face rebellions may be effective for a while, in the 
long-run the Powers return to power while the revolution is overcome or 
co-opted.  The inevitable wins either way.

David Morris

>what is it then that's up to me? Is it to write letters to the editor? or 
>to go out and protest? or to join the underground? or maybe even the 
>Tristero, if that's my preference? Such would be questions dealing with 
>efficacy of various actions in a world where action might make a difference
>
>Without the benefit of having my magic eye opened and the whole secret 
>message of LOT49 revealed to me, however, and setting aside the question of 
>efficacy for a moment, all the books seem to suggest the futility of 
>attempting to shape the course of large scale events because of 
>predestination, or, equally futile, the total inability to predict the 
>effects of any actions one might engage in order to effect large scale 
>events, even given the ability to discern the *right* message.
>
>As each novel is tempting a protagonist to take the plunge into 
>paranoia-space, by *suggesting* specific links between actions on the 
>individual scale with specific effects on the universal scale (of the 
>novel), the reader is offered parables- small acts of decency or kindness 
>or bravery- as alternatives to such futile and maybe dangerous grandiosity.
>
>But isn't keeping cool and caring, in effect, to become a facilitator for 
>Those who depend on civility for Their continued control? Granting the 
>possibility that at least to some degree "we are Them" do the books in 
>effect advocate for a focus on interpersonal relations- where free will may 
>be operative- as opposed to large scale grandiosity, which seems- any which 
>way you might play it- to accelerate the inevitable?

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