MDDM Ch. 53 a realm of doubt

[Otto]

     A Realm of Doubt

If Wicks' writings are "petulant, polemic and pompous" as you say they are
only so because the original Bible texts as all the other major works of
logocentrism have forgrounded that style & way of writing. For me these
Wicks'- pieces always are a source of postmodern inspiration and I would
hardly call them hardly polemic, but very tricky. But many thanks for
listing them up, makes it easier to talk about it. I hadn't done that yet,
now I could copy your NB simply to my book:

"Doubt is the essence of Christ. (...) The final pure Christ is pure
uncertainty. (...) a prophetic dream, a communication with a dead person?"
(511.11-14):

This is the Bible-part Wicks is referring to:

024 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with
        them when Jesus came.
025 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the
        LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands
        the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of
        the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not
        believe.
026 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
        Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and
        stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
027 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
        my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my
        side: and be not faithless, but believing.
028 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
029 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
        hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
        have believed.

       (John 20)

Those are blessed are we, *if* we believe, because we're not in the
lucky/unlucky Thomas-position of that last John-verse to be convinced by
direct evidence. If we're unnelievers we're doomed to be always in doubt
about facts that are normally sold to us as unquestionable.

So it goes with some other parts you have mentioned. On 275 he says some
truths about the Southern, quasi-aristocratic lifestyle, the confederate
idea (depending on "Lords and Serfs"), and WACO-mind of everybody being his
own sovereign as still exemplified in the US-gun laws of today, further
elaborated on 481 with the contradiction of "Craftsmen whose Piety is
unquestion'd" who have suffered some kind in Inquisition themselves, and
have no problem at all to make their living on producing "the machinery of
Murder".

"Christ and History" (349) describes the postmodern view of history very
well.

The piece about the Ley-Lines (440) I read primarily as a mild criticsm of
Green & Grassroot revolutionaries & other esoterical circles:

"Any number of devout enthusiasts (...) has his tale of real flights over
the countryside. (...) No one knows what it is, 'tho thousands speculate."

greetings

Otto

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:31 PM
Subject: MDDM Ch. 53
>
(schnipp)
>
> NB that Wicks has a collection of "Undeliver'd" sermons (511), as well as
> his "Spiritual Day-Book" (275, 440, 481), his "Unpublished Sermons" (95),
> and the work entitled "Christ and History" (349), but that they all seem
to
> contain exactly the same muddled mix of petulance, polemic and
pompousness.
>
> best