(no subject)

[Richard Ryan]

A shining grail of elixir in "The Dark Night of the Soul."  For as
Saint Paul observes (2 Corinthians 3:6) "the letter killeth, but the
spirits give life."

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 2:30 PM, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
>



-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Come see VTM's new production!
www.kingstheplay.com