ATDDTA(10) Pyrites of the Sons-of-Nippon [293]

[Keith]

Just when the hair-trigger is about to be pulled, magnesium flash- 
lights pop en masse, and people scramble for the exits creating a  
mixture of smoke and brightness in the Supercustomer Super Collider  
Saloon. A mob scene ensues with anger giving rise to the invisible  
movement of solid objects through the Collider. The otherworldliness  
of the scene proves disorienting, with customers experiencing mystic  
transport to foggy boors or historic battles. As the clouds of  
unknowing lift, Frank's eyes spot Merle conversing with a member of  
the dis-Oriented trade delegation about whether or not the West is  
the seat of the American soul, with Merle being cynical about such,  
and the Son of Nippon proclaiming the American face the sheath of the  
Razor's Edge, a materialist version of transcendence, not a lack of  
soul as Merle suggests, but a merciless dark soul, more lethal than a  
katana.

------------------------------------------

[293:3-7] The Japanese words (from P-Wiki):

Sumimasen = "Pardon me" or "Excuse me"
Bobusan desu = This is Bob
Gonnusuringaa = "gunslinger"
mottomo abunai desu = he is extremely dangerous
Anna koto! = That sort of thing!

I believe "Anna koto" is better translated "That person over there."

------------------------------------------

[293:15] "fulgurescence"

Main Entry: ful·gu·ra·tion
Etymology: Latin fulguration, fulguratio sheet lightning, from  
fulguratus + -ion-, -io -ion
1 a : the act or process of flashing like lightning : a lightning  
flash <it was pleasant to be sitting there while the sultriest  
fulgurations, flickering, cast corners in the glass -- Wallace  
Stevens> b : a spiritual radiation or divine manifestation c  
Leibnizianism : the monads that are coeternal with God
2 : the sudden brightening of a fused globule of gold or silver when  
the last film of oxide of lead or copper leaves its surface in assaying
             --(Webster's Unabridged)

------------------------------------------

[293:24] "battles of the Rebellion"

The Rebellion = The Civil War

------------------------------------------

[293:32-33] "Over here," the visitor was saying, "the American West--- 
it is a spiritual territory! in which we seek to study the secrets of  
your national soul!"

The Ascent of Christ is a struggle thro' one heresy after another,
River-wise up-country into a proliferation of Sects and Sects
branching from Sects, unto Deism, faithless pretending to be holy,
and beyond,-- ever away from the Sea, from the Harbor, from all
that was serene and certain, into an Interior unmapp'd, a Realm
of Doubt. The Nights. The Storms and Beasts. The Falls, the Rapids,
...the America of the Soul. [Mason & Dixon, 511:1-7]

------------------------------------------

[293:37] "An edge of steel-mathematically without width"

Beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the mind;  
beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the Great  
Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest; beyond the Unmanifest,  
the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there is nothing: this is the end,  
the Supreme Goal. That Self hidden in all beings does not shine  
forth; but It is seen by subtle seers through their one—pointed and  
subtle intellects.
The wise man should merge his speech in his mind and his mind in his  
intellect. He should merge his intellect in the Cosmic Mind and the  
Cosmic Mind in the Tranquil Self. Arise! Awake! Approach the great  
and learn.

Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say—hard to  
tread and difficult to cross.

Having realised Atman, which is soundless, intangible, formless,  
undecaying and likewise tasteless, eternal and odourless; having  
realised That which is without beginning and end, beyond the Great  
and unchanging—one is freed from the jaws of death.

Katha Upanishad (Part One/Chapter III/Verses 10-15)

------------------------------------------

[293:37] "katana"

The katana is the companion sword to the wakizashi [285:28]
   http://www.bugei.com/subcategory_6.htm

------------------------------------------