(no subject)

[Erik T. Burns]

a-and of course there's Vitamin V.

"manymany cases of vodka and a troupe of performing chimpanzees...."
--Gravity's Rainbow

(don't mean to take off the bridle but Rev Gwyon develops a interesting
relationship with schnapps, a wholly other "spirit of the book")



On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>wrote:

> And much spirituality in gin. <Urp.>
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > There is much wisdom in whiskey.
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 11:01 AM, Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> A friend and bartender once opined that the two halves of the Bible
> >> should be renamed as "How to" books. The Old Testament should be
> >> renamed "How to Live in a Middle-Eastern Desert 3000 Years Ago". The
> >> New Testament should be renamed "How to Live Under Roman Occupation".
> >> Since neither of those conditions currently exist....
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Ian Livingston <
> igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> Of course, there might be another way of looking at it. (At least
> >>> one.) To say that the later Jewish offspring are fallacious copies of
> >>> the original, in the context of the religions themselves, suggests
> >>> that the original is more pure, therefore more true, while, in fact,
> >>> the later religions grew out of a no-longer adequate set of metaphors.
> >>> Judaism could not answer the question of why there came to be a Rome,
> >>> or of how to live with Roman hegemony in the Med. Christianity offered
> >>> a way to adapt to Rome, and eventually adopt it and give it a new life
> >>> in a further changing world. Protestantism and Islam, of course,
> >>> evolved in the same way. Christianity meant little to drifters and
> >>> herdsmen in the decaying post-Seleucid / post-Roman desert where
> >>> Zoroastrianism was busily decaying; and Rome was taking away too much
> >>> dough from northern Europe in the form of imposed tithes and phony
> >>> indulgences for the purpose of funding the Renaissance in the Papal
> >>> States and what would one day become northern Italy. So, each evolved
> >>> to accommodate pressures from the outside, not to copy a purer
> >>> original. People need a central organizing idea, or they cannot form
> >>> themselves into nations, the fractability of Protestantism and Islam
> >>> made nations possible by supplying a steadily morphing moral center
> >>> for each evolving group. In other words, to say that religions copy
> >>> better originals is approximately parallel to saying that evolving
> >>> species copy better originals. And one could say that, though
> >>> believing it might prove difficult.
> >>>
> >>> On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 11:39 PM, Richard Ryan <
> himself at richardryan.com> wrote:
> >>>> Christianity has characteristically been regarded as either a radical
> >>>> and inspired re-vision of Judaism or a grotesque and heretical
> >>>> spin-off of it.  You're right, Ed, that the
> >>>> Judaism>Catholicism>Protestantism sequence traces the distorted copy
> >>>> of a distorted copy.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 4:39 PM,  <edmoorester at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>> TR
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I get the impression Judaism was in part a streamlined monotheism
> meme that
> >>>>> spread relatively well
> >>>>> drawing from various tribal myths
> >>>>>
> >>>>> . . .then a "copy" or Jewish cult aka Christianity/Catholicism arose
> >>>>> (rejecting certain aspects of "original")
> >>>>>
> >>>>> . . .then a "copy" called Protestantism arose (rejecting certain
> aspects of
> >>>>> "original")
> >>>>>
> >>>>> . . .also a "copy" came about called Islam (uhh I am nervous about
> >>>>> mentioning that one)
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Prophets typically hate phonies so Gaddis has that quality
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Just before GR's balloon scene (cannot find my copy right now)
> Pynchon goes
> >>>>> into some detail on his
> >>>>> family's involvement with the Salem witch trials and I bet some of
> those
> >>>>> accusers considered themselves
> >>>>> prophets
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ed
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Richard Ryan
> >>>> New York and the World
> >>>> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> >>>> Come see VTM's new production!
> >>>> www.kingstheplay.com
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
> >>> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
> >>> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
> >>> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
> >>> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
> > creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
> > trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
> > of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
> > than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Richard Ryan
> New York and the World
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> Come see VTM's new production!
> www.kingstheplay.com
>
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