Weed Atman's spirit

[Joseph Tracy]

I may not get a post up on CH 13 until Sunday,  a day late and a  
dollar shot.

I want to look back first at Weed Atman because i think he is a hinge  
that is very  carefully chosen and bears some resemblance to Richard  
Farina among other cultural leaders of the time.  His name i equal  
parts profane and majestic. First the seemingly profane Weed- first  
thought is cannabis with all those connections( the fuel of the  
60's,Jazz, Mexico, the munchies, Middle East,  the drug you pass  
around, Rock,  the outlaw plant, mellow.... the first time you  
smelled it) But there is also the more mundane sense of an  
"undesirable" plant. A lot of weeds in Agricultural areas are tall  
and hardy. Weed A.'s height is important, his head is above the  
crowd, he sees far with mathematical, logical precision, head above  
the fray in marriages, career, leadership. He is the surprisingly  
desirable undesirable of the American cultural landscape:  Twain,  
Thoroeau, Joe Hill, Malcom X, MLK, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Garcia, Pete  
Seeger.  While they entertain they are tolerated,   cultural  or  
spiritual gurus no problem. But let them become a real threat to  
political and money  power and they are killed or hunted, jailed,  
harassed, blacklisted.

The word Atman is even more loaded, though how much more loaded can  
you get than weed?  Actually a lot more.  The concept of Atman seems  
to have 3 distinct interpretations with several variations. The word  
is the same root as atom and has a similar meaning of irreducible  
essence, soul, true self, cosmic self ( or essential divine nature.  
In Buddhism it has 2 main interpretations: 1) the delusional sense of  
a singular personal identity that distracts from the truth and binds  
one to the drama of self .  2) the true Buddha nature that frees one  
from false attachments to self desire, delusion, and to exemplify and  
partake of enlightenment. Hinduism offers a 3rd way in which all  
spiritual reality is is found in the real here and now and the atman  
is the best essential self Enlightenment as personal self-realization/ 
fulfillment ( presumably with full medical benefits and an adequate  
retirement plan.
This last connects to the Weed associations  of here and now, rock  
and roll, leadership with sexual benefits, and in  American ideals  
would include free thought, challenging authority, etc.

  Weed and the PR3 seems to fill out various aspects of the 60's but  
Pynchon makes it just dangerous enough to call down the legions to  
stop the trouble.

The spiritual overtones  and the killing using a Judas figure and  
Vond's desire to possess, crush that spirit all point to the  
aftermath of the incident as bearing some likeness to the  
interpretations that followed Jesus life. Large numbers get a taste  
of a freedom  from the militarism, and social conformity and  
isolation , and also a taste of the power and violence of the state  
and begin to build different pictures of the 60's. the weirdly  
Messianic moment of a generation. The day to day continues,  
parenting, travel, depression, fun, work, but  so much refers back to  
a time when big choices affected the course of ones life.

We try to forget these questions about What kind of America do we  
want?, what kind of lives?, but it all comes back  in new wars, a new  
wall street crash,  new reasons to spy, new reasons to flip on the  
tube, soak up answers to questions we don't have, hoping to forget  
about the ones we do have.

Most of the dead are forgotten, adjustments go unmade.