On Being Certain/In Two Places At Once

[Mark Kohut]

Let me rephrase.
   
  I knew that you said a shaman can just disappear.....
   
  Since we have all been hunting for that elusive Shambala (in AtD), I wanted to make
  a connection between a disappearing shaman......AND an unattainable Shambala---
  in Pynchon's metaphoric mind.....??
   
  Hold up as a possibility?

robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
  It's no so much that a shaman dissapears when he finds Shambala. 
It is that dissapearing is one of those things that shamans do, 
something that got absorbed into later Eastern systems of 
enlightment, like the Sisterhood of Kunoichi Attentives. It would 
not be so strange that a shaman in Tuva goes invisible, there were
several foreshadowings of that earlier in this stretch of the story.
Of course, there is, during this anarchist miracle, plenty of signs 
and portents as well. . . .

There is a sense that Hassan gets his orders from "higher up".
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Mark Kohut 
> I say, from the hip: I am convinced.......
> A shaman dissapears, says Robin, when he finds Shambala?

From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
To: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
CC: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Subject: Re: On Being Certain/In Two Places At Once
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:21:30 +0000

  I say, from the hip: I am convinced.......
  A shaman dissapears, says Robin, when he finds Shambala?
  

robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
  iMB: is this in context of trying to figure out 
what happened to Hassan?

Is there a missing piece (like "kite") that 
will clarify what is going on?


A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is
a better place than the street. At first it is better to run
than to walk. You may have to try several times. It
takes some skill but it is easy to learn. Even young
children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications
are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however,
soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same
thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of
room. If there are no complications it can be very
peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break
loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

Is this paragraph comprehensible or meaningless? Feel
your mind sort through potential explanations. Now watch
what happens with the presentation of a single word: kite

What we have here is not a missing word that will clarify all, but a scene 
akin to scrying via iceland spar, where we see things moving away in 
multiple directions towards different resolutions.

But first, who is Hassan?

This is lifted, wholesale, from the Against the Day wiki:

"He looked around to to tell Hassan, who he was sure had 
already seen into his thoughts. Hassan was of course no 
longer there." (p. 769)

When Kit journies to Lake Baikal via the stone arch of Tushuk 
Tash, he is accompanied by Hassan, the loyal lieutenant of 
the Doosra.

Al-Doosra is the "local prophet" who was "driven mad by the 
desert" (p. 756) and who advocates for a Pan-Turania from 
Manchuria to Hungary united under a "single Shamanistic 
ruler" - a Northern Prophet known as "the One who comes. 
" Hassan and the Doosra are also very into ganga.

What does Hassan's dissappearance mean? You got me.

Here are the relevant sections that I can see:

Auberon Halfcourt: "The future out here simply belongs to the 
Prophet. It might have gone differently. This madman might 
have actually founded his pan-shamanic empire." (p. 758)

Lieutenant Prance: "Because this Arch is the Gateway," 
declared Prance - "unless we enter by way of it, we shall 
always be on the wrong journey." (p. 764)

Al-Doosra: "I am only a servant in this matter," said the Doosra. 
"My own master will be found in the north, at his work. If you 
wish to seek him for yourself, he will receive you." (p. 765)

At Tushuk Tash:

Hassan: "We have nearly completed the journey."
Kit: "And the Prophet? The Doosra's master? 
Shall I speak to him?"
Hassan: "You spoke to him." (p. 768)

Then Hassan dissappears.

After:
Lieutant Prance: "Out here pilgrimage is a matter of kind 
and wrathful deities. Timing. Guidance."
Kit: "Waht's that mean?"
Prance: "Ask Hassan."
Kit: "Hassan dissappeared the minute we got to the Lake."
Prance: "Exactly." (p. 774)

OK, so who was Hassan? Who was the Doosra? Who was the 
Prophet? Why did Hassan disssapear? And why did he leave Kit 
with more ganga?

Any thoughts?

We are all aware, of course, that Kit is on a boni-fied spiritual journey to the 
east? That he is headed towards Shambhala? That the location of 
Shambhala is usually thought of as in or near Tuva? That Tuva is full of 
shamans? Unless my guidance is totally blown off course, what we are 
dealing with here is a shaman. They have the power to dissapear at will. 
Mind you, shamanism is all over the section we are now reading, but I'm 
going back, a little dumbfounded. It's kinda like the moment I discovered 
that there were at least two first rate scrying globes in the house all along. I 
am going back to my books and do further research on this fascinating 
subject. This all lends further creedence to the notion that it was was the 
Magyakan who cast the spell that brought forth Agdy, Lord of the Thunder 
and was the true cause of the Tunguska Event. Then there's the little matter 
of Gengis Cohen-Great Cohen-Gengis Khan and Tuva as a generator of 
postal Cinderellas. My question is, how does Elmer Fudd figure into this?

    
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