introduction

[Will Layman]

I've got to say that this sounds ("The Gravity Book", c'mon . . .)  
like a holiday goof.

But if it's not, I'd like to say that reading Pynchon hardly suggests  
that you are some kind of anti-religious zealot.  While the world of  
Pynchon's books hardly suggests respect for traditional religious  
institutions, that same world suggests, again and again, that there  
are worlds and levels of consciousness beyond the human/rational/ 
scientific.  The message Pynchon repeatedly sends to me is about the  
foolishness of thinking that any one person or system or set of  
beliefs is ultimately "controlling".  It's anti-dogma, but hardly  
anti-spiritual.

I'm not particularly in the market to be "saved" -- by Jesus or  
anyone else -- but I don't think anybody should mock notion of  
spirituality, in these books or anywhere else.  The hubris of the I- 
know-I'm-right atheist is as un-Pynchon as any other unbending  
missionary.

-- Will

On Dec 21, 2006, at 6:47 PM, friend tom wrote:

> On 12/21/06, Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com> wrote:
> Another day, another cavalcade of [unChristian content deleted].
>
> I want to thank you all for responding. I think you all need to be  
> saved, but don't we all? We are all sinners in the eyes of God. But  
> I have promised to keep my posts on topic, which is Mr. Pynchon and  
> his works. And if in the process I can help some of you find your  
> way to salvation, all the better.
>
> I have studied this Pynchon phenomenon, as it is called, for  
> several days now, and I know a lot about it. I have also been  
> listening to the dreaded Howard Stern, and watching the Simpsons.  
> Yes, I have done my homework and will continue to do so regardless  
> of how offensive it is to one's sensibilities. I feel not unlike  
> Daniel in the lion's den. I will work for the Lord in the darkest  
> corners.
>
> Some of you, well probably all of you, are familiar with the  
> sixteenth season of the Simpsons (I found it on the google). Mr.  
> Pynchon took it upon himself to make one of his infrequent public  
> appearances there, well, at least his voice and as a cartoon  
> character with a bag over his head. I mean, can  you believe it, he  
> is so afraid of exposure that his cartoon representation had its/ 
> his face obscured. He needs help and we should all pray for him.
>
> But at least he was there. This is so very significant because the  
> Simpsons is actually a Christian work. And as for Howard Stern,  
> well, as they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.  
> Mr. Stern, the self-professed King of Media, is the worst, but I  
> will not run from him. I will confront his depravity and maybe,  
> just maybe, I can help him and his millions of satellite fans find  
> The Way.
>
> I have to read more. The Gravity book is not the easiest thing I've  
> tried to read, but I know I can do it because I have the Good Book  
> as my guide. I know that we all can find Christ in The Phychon  
> Phenomenon, as Mr. Pynchon himself has done when he appeared on the  
> Simpsons.
>
> Remember that the Lord loves you. He loves Mr. Pynchon for  
> participating in the Christian Simpsons show. we all wish you a  
> Merry Christmas, even to Jews (Christ was one!), Muslims,  
> Buddhists, transcendentalistis, pantheists, agnostics, atheists,  
> communists and so on. We are all God's people.
>

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