rubrics (I like that word), wrecking crews and hugfests

[Joseph Tracy]

On Dec 3, 2009, at 9:11 AM, Michael Bailey wrote:

> If we get 19 more posts the thread count on this will reach 100
>
>  Carvill, John wrote:
>>>> Ah, of course. It's my inability to grasp the point that's at  
>>>> fault. Ok
>>  then.
>
> malignd had written:
>>
>>> Not ah of course, but yes, in this case.  At least on the evidence
>>
>>
>
> to which John retorted:
>> You're hilarious. I don't agree with you, and/or I cannot see how  
>> your 'argument' relates to the issue at hand, therefore I must be  
>> missing the point.
>>
>
> first off, John, great review of Beatles in the 60s!  The comments  
> underneath
> the review on the link Robin posted included the factoid that Mr  
> MacDonald
> had killed himself (wikipedia sez in 2003) which is quite sad, and his
> work-in-progress
> on David Bowie hasn't seen the light of day, unfortunately.  He  
> also wrote
> about Shostakovich -- could his book have been a source for Vollman's
> _Europe Central_?
>
>
> My understanding is that malignd is not accepting of anyone
> taking tarot et al seriously, and agnostic on whether Pynchon does.
>
> John holds out the possibility that pynchon did in fact at least at  
> some
> points practice Tarot and I Ching and so forth with some real
> interest, and allows
> as how Mr Pynchon's interest in such matters - if genuine - gives him
> a certain amount of pause w/r/t to the dismissibility of such matters.
>
> I'm inclined to think maybe Mr Pynchon is
> more of a cynic - in the sense of the article that Robin posted  
> some time
> back about Jesus-as-portrayed-in-many-of-the-gospels was.
> (not this one http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/ 
> pagan_origins_cynic_philosophy.html
> but something with a lot of small print)
I guess I should read this article, but the core idea is from the  
writings of John Crossan , with which I am quite familiar. A cynic in  
this sense is a philosophical and particularly in Jesus case  an   
ethical and spiritual practice rather than the cynic in the modern  
sense of a dismissive skeptic. They rejected the pursuit of money and  
status and the definitions of authorities,  pursued a liberated  
mental state and harmony with nature. Jesus was clearly not a  
straight-up cynic because he included the communal sharing of food  
and shelter as central to his way and incorporated elements of Jewish  
ethics and mysticism.

I see, in ATD especially, a very strong case for something like a  
meld of Jesus's Christianity/Buddhism/Cynicism/lefty organizing as  
what genuine resistance to empire would look like. The problem is  
that it can't seem to stop wars. But is anything else on the table?
>
> The knowledge of a great number of spiritual variants
> the willingness to even try some of them (Robin calls this
> an interest in heresy, but the only time we see the H word much
> is in GR referring specifically to William Slothrop's writings)
> and the unwillingness to adopt a particular system and stop thinking
> square with this to some extent...
I think Hippies and lefties and various melds of lefty resistance and  
heretical religious ideas appear constantly and all are heresies  
against the dominant paradigms. Pynchon satirizes them but only in  
the sense of mourning their diversion from the liberation they offer.
>
>
> -- 
> - "The doctor said give him jug band music; it seems to make him feel
> just fine!"