Misc. : if all knowledge degenerates into probability---David Hume

[jochen stremmel]

"Wow, Becky!" – second that!

Great that Introduction by Elizabeth Jane Wall Hinds that you found. That
wonderful Motto by Lukács: "[...] The world is wide and yet it is like
home, for the fire that burns in the soul is of the same essential nature
as the stars." (Hard to imagine that it sounds better in German.) The intro
addresses a lot of things we already discussed here. And that great pun
"Suture Self" (Dixon, p.20) is quoted and given its proper weight and place
– just a little over Dixon's head (like his anachronistic mentioning of
that Clasper lad, p.100;  we should keep Upton's footnote in mind: 31 Even
when characters’ speech does involve an anachronism or other such nod to
the modern reader, it is necessary that we absolve that character from
involvement in the joke; they are, that is, innocent of participation in a
language game that is going on “over their head.”



2015-02-19 5:09 GMT+01:00 David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>:

> Wow, Becky!
>
> Time and History and Causality are all given slippery gears that gum up a
> Linear (mathematically measurable, and thus, maybe, controllable) version
> of Reality. I really like the flow model of a globe you describe.  Ley
> lines, and such in Dixon's world.
>
> As a recent disciple of Kundalini, I see the ancient maps of the human
> "subtle body" as that of a globe, with a very dominant vertical axis.  And
> the "as-below/so-above" description is the model of an ideal flow of
> information, from earth to sky, and back down, in an information loop.
> Chakras as gravity elevator space-stations from the root to the crown, and
> beyond.  Spiritual Awakening as a function of opening esoteric channels of
> energy to clear out karma, and flush in Enlightenment. These models are all
> in play in reality.
>
> When I finished reading GR ca. '90, I was laying on the beach on Plum
> Island, MA. My initial thought was of a tapestry, many many threads,
> exposed and hidden, like the folds of time's fabric (V.).  Another weave
> might be the neural network, synapses and such...
>
> That reading let me feel free to not understand it all.  That lesson in
> freedom was GR's best gift to me.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Wednesday, February 18, 2015, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com>
> wrote:
>
> Yep - you betcha - Pynchon is way beyond the “cause and effect” method of
>> history - it’s way too linear - the calendar is off (as we’ll see later),
>> the instruments are off (in chapter 12, I think).     I think to TRP the
>> idea of putting these lines (time, space, mapping, etc.)  on events or
>> phenomenon is bizarre.   Besides that,  there are just too many threads
>> involved to be able to track any kind of simple “cause and effect”
>> relationship - can’t even do that with one person, much less a whole
>> history.
>>
>> Time in the hands of historians is just their own peculiar device to
>> create linear measurement on  non-linear phenomena - like a grid on a
>> globe  - at the ends,  the straight lines do not stay parallel but get
>> closer - at the middle they get further.  You can’t keep a grid flat on a
>> globe and you can’t put a 24-hour daily calendar on history.
>>
>> His may be an “Other Worldly” method of history - a parallax of various
>> times and points of view, perhaps - past, present, future - no problem.
>> Time may not be linear - (although once an egg is broken it’s not going
>> back together - once a bell is rung, etc.  -  still- there are arguments
>> for time being curved - even a bunch of times and ways.
>>
>> It becomes a matter of time and the flow of history (do time and history
>> have directions  - like forward? - yes of course they do in the world of
>> entropy, but … )  And whether or not something is an anachronism  is
>> directly related to that.  Time is a huge theme in Mason & Dixon - on page
>> 106 (Chapter 11) - in a day or two:
>>
>> Ethelmer says “Didn’t Days take twenty-four hours to pass,  as they do
>> now?”   (sounds rhetorical but …)
>>
>> I think reading this closely,  we’re going to have to view M&D as both an
>> 18th century and as a 20th century novel - with feet in both centuries at
>> the same time - overlapping - Maybe the 20th century is moving across the
>> 18th like Venus across the sun - although obviously not in a line.  And
>> this is going to be more and more apparent as we move along because  I’ve
>> found all sorts of good articles about this referencing pages in the 300
>> and 400 range - some in the 500 range.  We’ll just recognize that element
>> when we see it pop up again - and again.
>>
>>
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=Ngv97RCuFrEC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=%22Mason+%26+Dixon%22+anachronisms&source=bl&ots=SIyTRplVDA&sig=aNO38nBQ9wO57R8ApLmY6V1kk_o&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tyTlVLXaCcS_ggTCqYP4Cw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Mason%20%26%20Dixon%22%20anachronisms&f=false
>>
>> Becky
>>
>>
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>
>
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