Time out of Mind/Mind out of time...into the mystic

[Terrance]

John Bailey wrote:
> 
> In the novel, people are also slaves to Time (capital T) and to History (and
> history too). The current chapter is a pretty obvious reflection upon this,
> but I don't think P just reinscribes this model; instead he shows how the
> idea of becoming a slave to time is one which arose in the 18th C. and we've
> lived with since. The accelerating idea of progress, of Westering, and of a
> soon-to-be modernity...

"The regularization of time, the increase in mechanical
  power, the multiplication of goods,  the contraction of
  time and space, the standardization of performance and
  product, the  transfer of skill to automata, and the
  increase in collective interdependence --these, then, are the chief
  characteristics of our machine civilization. They are the
  basis of the particular forms of life and modes of
  expression that distinguish Western Civilization, at least
  in degree, from the various earlier civilizations that
  preceded it.
                   Lewis Mumford, Technic and Civilization, p. 281  

"The application of quantitative methods of thought to the
  study of nature had its first manifestation in the regular
  measurement of time; and the new mechanical conception of
  time arose in part out of the routine of the monastery. 
  Alfred Whitehead has emphasized the importance of the
  scholastic belief in the universe ordered by God as one of
  the foundations of modern physics: but behind that belief
  was the presence of order in the institutions of the Church
  itself." 
                          --Mumford, Technics and Civilization

  The Benedictines, the working order, were, according to
  Coulton, Sombart, others, the original founders of modern
  Capitalism. Mumfords says, they "gave human enterprise the
  regular collective beat and rhythm of the machine
Eternity
  ceased gradually to serve as the measure and focus of human
  actions." 

  Paleotechnic industry arose out of the breakdown of European society
and carried
  the process of disruption to a finish. There was a sharp shift in
interest from
  life values to pecuniary values: work was no longer a necessary part
of living:
  it became an all-important end
 This second revolution multiplied,
vulgarized,
  and spread the methods and goods produced by the first: above all, it
was
  directed towards the quantification of life, and its success could be
gauged only
  in terms of the multiplication table.

  
  A landless traditionless proletariat was put to work in these new
industries-a
  steady unremitting toil.

NOTES ON PIRATE P'S  DREAM: 

  The phase  here defined as paleotechnic reached its highest point, in
terms of
  its own concepts and ends, in England in the middle of the nineteenth
century:
  its cock-crow of triumph was the great industrial exhibition in the
new Crystal
  Palace at Hyde Park in 1851: the first World Exposition.

  In short one is dealing with a technical complex that cannot be
strictly placed
  within a time belt: but if one takes 1700 as a beginning, 1870 as the
high point
  of the upward curve, and 1900 as the start of an accelerating downward
movement,
  one will have a sufficiently close approximation to fact.


  Carboniferous Capitalism
  The great shift in population and industry that took place in the
eighteenth
  century was due to the introduction of coal as a source of mechanical
power, to
  the use of new means of making that power effective-the steam
engine-and to new
  methods of smelting and working up iron. Out of this coal and iron
complex, a new
  civilization developed.
  Now, the sudden accession of capital in the form of these vast coal
fields put
  mankind in a fever of exploitation: coal and iron were the pivots upon
which the
  other functions of society revolved. 
A series of rushes (get rich
quick), gold,
  copper, diamond, petroleum. The nineteenth century town became in
effect-and
  indeed in appearance-an extension of the coal mine.

  After Watt perfected the steam engine, the technical history of the
next hundred
  years was directly or indirectly the history of steam. 
The steam
engine tended
  towards monopoly and concentration. Wind and waterpower were free; but
coal was
  expensive and the steam engine itself was a costly investment; so too,
were the
  machines that it turned. Twenty-four hour work, which characterized
the mine and
  the blast furnace, now came into other industries. The steam engine
became the
  pacemaker. If machines can work all day, why not a man or a woman or a
child?

  Since the steam engine requires constant care on the part of the
stoker and
  engineer, steam power was more efficient in large units. 
The steam
engine
  fostered a tendency towards large industrial plants already present in
the
  subdivision of the manufacturing process. Great size, forced by the
nature of the
  steam engine, became in turn a symbol of efficiency. Bigger was
another way of
  saying better
. With the big steam engine, the big factory, the big
bonanza farm,
  the big blast furnace, efficiency was supposed to exist in direct
ratio to size.


  With the integration of the railroad system and the growth of
international
  markets, populations tended to heap up in the great terminal cities.
The main
  line express services tended to further this concentration and the
feeder lines
  and cross country services ran down, died out, or were deliberately
extirpated:
  to travel across the country it was often necessary to go twice the
distance
  through the central town and back again, hairpinwise.

  Blood and Iron
  Iron and coal dominated the paleotechnic period. Their color spread
everywhere
  from gray to black: the black boots, the black hats, the black coach
or carriage,
  the black iron frame of the hearth, the black cooking pots, and pans
and stoves.
  Was it mourning ? Was it protective coloration? Was it mere depression
of the
  senses? No matter what the original color of the paleotechnic milieu
might be, it
  was soon reduced, by reason of the soot and cinders that accompanied
its
  activities, to its characteristic tones, 
   grey, dirty brown, black. The center of
  the new industrialism in England was appropriately called the Black
Country.

  Iron became the universal material. One went to sleep in an iron bed
and washed
  one's face in an iron washbowl: and sat on an iron locomotive and
drove to the
  city on iron rails, passing over an iron bridge and arriving at an
iron-covered
  rail station
. In the most typical of Victorian utopias, that of J.S.
Buckingham,
  the ideal city is built almost entirely of iron.

  In the very midst of celebrating the triumphs of peace and
internationalism in
  1851, the paleotechnic regime was preparing for a series of more
lethal wars in
  which, as a result of modern methods of production and transport
entire nations
  would finally become involved: the American Civil War, the
Franco-Prussian War,
  most deadly and vicious of all, the world war
. Bloodshed kept pace
with iron
  production: in essence, the entire paleotechnic period was ruled, from
the
  beginning to end, by the policy of blood and iron. Its brutal contempt
for life
  was rivaled by the almost priestly ritual it developed in preparation
for
  inflicting death. Its "peace" was indeed the peace that passeth
understanding:
  what was it but latent war?

  Destruction of the Environment
   The first mark of paleotechnic industry was pollution of the air. For
all its
  boasts of improvement, the steam engine was only ten percent
efficient: ninety
  percent of the heat created escaped in radiation, and the good part of
the fuel
  went up the flue. Smoke increased the thickness of London's natural
fog.

  In this paleotechnic world the realities were money, prices, capital,
share: the
  environment itself, like most of human existence, was treated as an
abstraction.
  Air and sunlight, because of their deplorable lack of value in
exchange, had no
  reality at all. Manufacturers proudly displayed factories with no
windows as
  examples of the excellent gas-lighting systems which served as a
substitute for
  then sun!

  Disease of dirt and disease of darkness flourished: small-pox, typhus,
typhoid,
  rickets, tuberculosis. Above all, the psychological and social
stimulus derived
  from cultivating numerous different occupations and different modes of
thought
  and living disappeared. Result:  an insecure industry, a lop-sided
social life,
  an impoverishment of intellectual resources, and a physically depleted
  environment.

  The Degradation of the Worker
  Kant's doctrine, that every human being should be treated as an end,
not as a
  means, was formulated precisely at the moment when mechanical industry
had begun
  to treat the worker solely as a means---a means to cheaper mechanical
production.
  Human beings were dealt with in the same spirit of brutality as the
landscape:
  labor was a resource to be exploited, to be mined, to be exhausted,
and finally
  discarded. The poor propagated like flies, reached industrial
maturity-ten to
  twelve years of age---promptly, served their term in the mills and
mines, and
  died inexpensively.  Reduced to cog, the new worker could not survive
but as an
  extension of the machine.

  The Starvation of Life
  Add to the lack of light a lack of color, except for the
advertisements on
  hoarding, the prevailing tones were dingy ones: in a murky atmosphere
even the
  shadows lose their rich ultramarine or violet colors. The rhythm of
movement
  disappeared: within the factory the quick staccato of the machine
displaced the
  organic rhythms, measured to song, that characterized the old
workshop, as Bucher
  has pointed out: while the dejected and outcast shuffled along the
streets in
  Cities of Dreadful Night, and the sharp athletic movements of the
sword dances
  and the morris dances disappeared in the surviving dances of the
working classes.
  Sex, above all, was starved and degraded in this environment. Sex had
no
  industrial value. Starvation of the senses and starvation of the mind
was
  universal.

  In Being And Time the Clocks and the Street Lamps reveal a
  purpose in nature: the moving circle of time, the cycle of
  light and darkness, and the human need to keep track of the
  former so that humans may manipulate the latter. 
 

  Twelve o'clock.
   Along the reaches of the street
    Held in a lunar synthesis,
    Whispering lunar incantations
    Dissolve the floors of memory
    And all its clear relations,
     Its divisions and precisions,
     Every street lamp that I pass
     Beats like a fatalistic drum,
    And through the spaces of the dark
    Midnight shakes the memory
    As a madman shakes a dead geranium.

    Half-past one,
    The street lamp sputtered,
    The street lamp muttered,
    The street lamp said, "Regard that woman
    Who hesitates towards you in the light of the door
    Which opens on her like a grin.
                  
                  --T.S. Eliot

  

  A new movement appeared in industrial society which had been
  gathering headway almost unnoticed from the fifteenth
  century on: after 1750 industry passed into a new phase,
  with a different source of power, different materials,
  different social objectives. This second revolution
  multiplied, vulgarized, and spread the methods and goods
  produced by the first: above all, it was directed toward the
  quantification of life, and its success could be gauged only
  in terms of the multiplication table [155]. 

The machine. The machine has developed out of a complex of non-organic
  agents for converting energy, for performing work, for enlarging the
  mechanical or sensory capacities of the human body(telescope), or for
  reducing to a measurable order and regularity the processes of
life(clock).
  The automation is the last step in a process that began with the use
of one
  part or another of the human body as a tool. In back of the
development of
  tools and machines lies the attempt to modify the environment in such
a way
  as to fortify and sustain the human organism: the effort is either to
  extend the powers of the otherwise unarmed organism, or to manufacture
  outside of the body a set of conditions more favorable toward
maintaining
  its equilibrium and ensuring its survival. Instead of the
physiological
  adaptation to the cold, like the growth of hair or the habit of
  hibernation, there is an environmental adaptation, such as that made
  possible by the use of clothes and the erection of shelters. The
  distinction between the machine and tools lies in the degree of
  independence in the operation from the skill and motive power of the
  operator: the tool lend itself to manipulation, the machine to
automatic
  action. The degree of complexity is unimportant. 

  Human values in the machine. In western Europe the machine had been
  developing some 800 odd years before the industrial revolution. And
  developing reciprocally were the values, aspiration, habits, ideas,
goals
  of a culture that invested its values in the machine.  An ideological
and
  sociological change prepared the way for the machines dominance in
every
  aspect of human endeavor. Perceptions of time and space changed and
are
  present in the machine.

Gotta run, Luz is playing into the mystic, bah bah bah dah dah dah and
together we will flow into the mystic, come on girl

unbiquity of flow (
see Tony Tanner's essay on M&D on this flux and flow, Circles). 

For Carnival see Braha's dissertation, "Menippean Form in GR and Other
  Contemporary American Texts." Diss. Columbia Univ. 1979).