AtD, naming

[Ian Livingston]

But everything is ineffable.  There is no way to express the full experience
of sitting at a computer terminal exchanging ideas about an author.  The
moment of taste, touch, feel of a beloved cannot be directly named.  We
speak of everything by metaphor because it is the best we have.  Every noun
is really just a "finger pointing at the moon" as the Zennies say. and every
verbal construct a way of thinking about a thing.  If we pass over in
silence what can't be said, we say nothing.  ("After all your analysis, what
have you said?" -T.R.P.)  The entire cognitive cosmos is an ideal construct
we build to remind us of the real thing.  So with Pynchon.  He gives us maps
of the territory based on landmarks it is up to us to duly note.  Where
there are no landmarks we're on our own.  It's not that it can't be spoken
about, its just that it's better when we explore the territory ourselves.

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 7:26 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think there's a big difference between the statement by Bryan and
> that by Page, and I think Bryan's is more correct.  It's not that
> something can't be SAID, it's just that nothing can be adequately
> definitive.  We are left with approximations, metaphors, symbolisms,
> all of which have aspects of the thing which is unspeakable, but which
> are important and need to be said.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 7:46 PM, Bryan Snyder <wilsonistrey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Holy Center is ALWAYS APPROACHING... But never reached...
>
> > On 5/2/08 7:18 PM, "Page" <page at quesnelbc.com> wrote:
> >    7 What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
> > So, to my mind, there is something very important about the distinction
> between what can be named and what cannot. It is the difference between what
> can be said and what cannot be said.
>
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