Pythagoreans and Buddhists

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Plus it gave TRP a chance to set up the joke of an all-vegetarian proper British breakfast.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: 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.