AtDTDA (16) 434 +

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          Mark Kohut:
          okay foax,
 
          Dave has been heroic, pulling a double shift 
          and I've offered to give him a break at hosting 
          now that I am back with my copy of AtD--and 
          maybe not too busy for a week or so. Maybe.

Well, good! Dammit!!
  
          MK: I'm not as thorough as thorough Dave, 

Nobody, but nobody is. Awesome work Dave, your stuff is always too big 
to absorb all at once and too on-point to be blown-off. Dave Monroe is 
my "Wole Model." *

          so SiNG Along, Fill right in.

Is it gonna be in the Phygerian or Lydian mode?
   
          I'll make some obs to start and ask for insights, 
          opinions, votes on obs, so to speak, 'kay?

You da boss. . . .
    
          some won't like my style, so say so in smart disagreement. 

YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!

          "Every man has the right to stand up and give his opinion 
          and every other man has the right to knock him down for it"--

. . . .and God against all. . . .

          P 434 Special Desert Detail:   Desert = What Associations?    
          Doesn't TRP do some rifiing on deserts in GR?.....   
          "the high-desert traces of an ancient European order" 436 
          in GR...but there is more I can't find...anyone, anyone?

Very important and absolutely linking, we need to re-read Tchitcherine's 
pilgrimage to the Kirtiz light. . . .

                    The Aqyn's Song

          I have come from the edge of the world.
          I have come from the lungs of the wind,
          With a thing I have seen so awesome
          Even Dzambul could not sing it.
          With a fear in my heart so sharp
          It will cut the strongest of metals.

          In the ancient tales it is told
          In a time that is older than Qorqyt,
          Who took from the wood of Syrghaj
          The first qobyz, and the first song--
          It is told that a land far distant
          Is the place of the Kirghiz Light.

          In a place where words are unknown,
          And eyes shine like candles at night,
          And the face of God is a presence
          Behind the mask of the sky--
          At the tall black rock in the desert,
          In the time of the final days.

          If the place were not so distant,
          If words were known, and spoken,
          Then the God might be a gold ikon,
          Or a page in a paper book.
          But It comes as the Kirghiz Light--
          There is no other way to know It.

          There roar of Its voice is deafness,
          The flash of Its light is blindness.
          The floor of the desert rumbles,
          And Its face cannot be borne.
          And a man cannot be the same,
          After seeing the Kirghiz Light.

          For I tell you that I have seen It
          In a place which is older than darkness
          Where even Allah cannot reach.
          As you see, my beard is an ice-field,
          I walk with a stick to support me,
          But this light must change us to children.

          And now I cannot walk far,
          For a baby must learn to walk.
          And my words are reaching your ears
          As the meaningless sounds of a baby.
          For the Kirghiz Light took my eyes,
          Now I sense all Earth like a baby.

          It is north, for a six-day ride,
          Through the steep and death-gray canyons,
          Then across the stony desert
          To the mountain whose peak is a white dzurt.
          And if you have passed without danger,
          The place of the black rock will find you.

          But if you would not be born,
          Then stay with your warm red fire,
          And stay with your wife, in your tent,
          And the Light will never find you,
          And your heart will grow heavy with age,
          And your eyes will shut only to sleep.
          GR [V 357, B416, P363]

. . . .in particular noting the resonances of Mount Kailas in Tibet, the
ancient Manichaens worship of light and the "heavenwide blast of light"
of the Tungusga Event all tied together by that mysterious 
"Quaternionic Weapon". Note as well how all of this is 
reflected/distorted/refracted by Kit's analogous trek to Shambhala.
  
          And have we mentioned the homage to Dune yet? 
          Real or imagined?  Anyone read Dune and not just seen 
          the movie like moi? 

It's been 30 years, I remember there being a great deal of religious talk.
    
          Weren't the three Abrahamic religions all founded 'in the desert"?

I would go so far as to postulate that monotheism is the inevitable 
social byproduct of cultures formed in deserts.
   
          succession of colors' to flow past............meaning?       

          Sprang vividly to life....

          'some beetle species' swarmed..........Wasn't there some 
          meaningful exchange about Beetles in M & D?.......page 58:    
          if Beetles be your Passion, why the Beetle Variety there!

All I really remember is "She Loves You" from COL49 
[though "I Want to Kiss Your Feet" is obviously an intentional echo].

*AtD, 757 v