Pythagoreans and Buddhists

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

My take is  that privileged space was earned. So many in the book are 
on pilgrimages, though they might not be aware they're on a quest
when they start.  But there are a number of ideological systems, 
mostly occult in one way or the other, which raise Vegetarianism to 
high rank in their spiritual credos, an essential and inescapable route
to divinity. Note how the Pythagoreans and Buddhists raised the act of being 
vegetarian to high estate on spiritual grounds. Note the prescence of 
Pythagoreans and Buddhists throughout the book. I think that a lot in 
Against the Day concerns modes of altering consciousness and how 
shifting consciousness alters reality. The author is displaying how 
changing diet can alter consciousness. And the truth is, none of us
really know where the author is at right now, foodwise. One thing's for sure; once 
you're past 50, you think of these things a whole lot more than you used to.

John BAILEY:

I'm utterly confused by the vegetarian stuff in AtD; mainly as a vego
myself, since I don't imagine it would really stick out to
non-vegetarians, but to place that song where Pynchon does... Well, it
just seems to accord the very idea of vegetarianism a particularly
privileged space.