TRTR, Pt 2, C 2 "does there exist such a thing as mermaids, sar?"

[Paul Mackin]

On 7/27/2011 4:45 PM, Richard Ryan wrote:
> Hmmmm... I guess I would counter, Mark, that there's no inconsistency
> in seeing all formal religions as having social or anthropological
> origins and also thinking there's a mystical, non-material dimension
> of experience.
>
> If we think that Gaddis is an atheist and a materialist, how do we
> account for mystical/magical events in The Recognitions?  I.e, Wyatt
> seeing his mother's ghost on her death; Wyatt's recuperation after the
> sacrifice of the Barbary Ape; the supernaturally evil power that Brown
> has over Wyatt, etc.?

Also there's no inconsistency in an author's writing about supernatural 
goings-on and also not believing they could happen?

Also the reverse is true.

There is no logical inconsistency in a neuroscientist accepting the 
possibility of non-material experience and also attempting to explain 
consciousness in purely material terms.

People can do whatever they want.

P
> On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>> I think I see Fuller's belief in the unseen--mermaids and mermahns--as
>> examples of Gaddis perspective on 'faith'
>> With Brown's simple reasoning as narratorial perspective (there's one rub,
>> eh?)
>>
>> Then there is the line about the Deity as an imaginary number, the square
>> root of minus one, not, again, narratorial maybe, but an author's mind at
>> work.
>>
>> And as Gaddis 'exposes' the real world origins of just about all religions
>> (via The Golden Bough and anything else).....
>>
>> Mostly, I see little presentation of 'mystery' about such ultimate
>> questions, as I do in Pynchon. No middle here from Gaddis,
>> Charles Fort notwithstanding............
>> From: Richard Ryan<himself at richardryan.com>
>> To: Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: pynchon -l<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 5:20 AM
>> Subject: Re: TRTR, Pt 2, C 2 "does there exist such a thing as mermaids,
>> sar?"
>>
>> The G&S comparison rings true - especially for this wry dialogue.  But
>> Gaddis's "non-belief"?  How so Mark?
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 7:30 PM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>>> I have heard the mermaids calling each to each. ----Eliot
>>> Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
>>>
>>> p. 346 Fuller.....explores the 'dialects' of religious belief.......
>>>
>>> simple man of faith...dissed and 'refuted' by the awful Recktall.......
>>> but in Fuller's arguments....."have you seen an octopus"...............
>>> There has to be mahn mermaids............
>>>
>>> I think we see Gaddis's non-belief......True?
>>>
>>> And religious belief/dogma as a Gilbert&  Sullivan light opera.......
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard Ryan
>> New York and the World
>> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>> "The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround
>> him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself.
>> All progress depends on the unreasonable man." - Shaw
>>
>>
>>
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