Reality Beyond Realism

[Ian Livingston]

"A soul in every stone...."

On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 8:23 PM Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ian, thank you for sharing that. Your grandfather's book sounds really
> fascinating. I've been working on some ideas for a more novelistic
> treatment of "mineral consciousness," an idea I believe I first encountered
> in *GR. *Finding the right ways to tell that kind of story has a lot to
> do with why I'm teaching the class.
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 9:20 PM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> My Grandfather, a geologist writing in the 1930s, produced a rough draft
>> of a work tracing the evolution of consciousness from the earliest
>> discovered life forms at the time of his research to the present time. His
>> prose is very story-like in the telling of the geological study. I have
>> been looking at his work after its having been buried away in boxes in
>> family basements for more than 80 years and seeing there hints that Western
>> thought was well along that inquiry leading to the dissolution of
>> self-reflective "objectivity". Richard Grossinger delivers a heavy-handed
>> wallop on noggin of positivist approaches to scientific inquiry in Dark
>> Pool of Light that might be a direct outgrowth of ideas swirling around in
>> the dark corners of depression-era phenomenological thought.
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 5:16 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I love both Campbell and Brown.  Brown's Life Against Death clearly was a
>>> *major* inspiration for Gravity's Rainbow.  And Jung was Campbell's
>>> mentor,
>>> more important than Campbell himself. They are all western discoverers of
>>> aspects of ancient eastern philosophies, even if unintentionally, which
>>> makes them all that more valuable.  I'd add Stanislav Grof's
>>> transpersonal
>>> psychology to that western mix.
>>>
>>> What is usually called "mysticism" is an unavoidable aspect of a deeper
>>> dive into eastern takes on illusion v reality.  Strict materialism will
>>> have to be discarded when one personally encounters those deeper realms.
>>> Even so, those deeper realms will largely remain inscrutable, yet
>>> undeniable.  Ancient texts might help.  Gurus might too, but I avoid
>>> them.
>>> Direct experience is my guru, maybe to my detriment.
>>>
>>> Your inquiry is very cool.  Have fun with it.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 5:56 PM Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Thanks David,
>>> >
>>> > Certainly ambitious, and much more an inquiry than a top-down lesson
>>> on my
>>> > part. Growing up, I had much more schooling in (mostly Western) lit
>>> than in
>>> > non-Western spirituality. So literature was the first thing that
>>> allowed me
>>> > to feel like I was seeing through the first couple layers of illusion.
>>> >
>>> > Campbell, Brown, and others have pointed to artists as modern-day
>>> shamans,
>>> > bringing people in contact with the real. I want to see how stories
>>> can (or
>>> > can’t) do that when I have also come to understand reality as starting
>>> > where storytelling stops.
>>> >
>>> > On Jun 28, 2020, at 4:52 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > 
>>> >
>>> > My God, this seems an ambitious task!  In Buddhist or Hindu or other
>>> > ancient eastern schools, ubiquitous reality is seen as an illusion, a
>>> veil
>>> > one hopes to see past.  Individuality (personal identity) is also seen
>>> as a
>>> > false reality, at least partly so.  Many lifetimes of observance by a
>>> > select few are sometimes required to see beyond the illusion of common
>>> > reality.  I wish you all the best.
>>> >
>>> > David Morris
>>> >
>>> > On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 3:06 PM Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Fellow Plisters,
>>> >>
>>> >> Starting July 1 I'll be leading a class you and/or people you know may
>>> >> find interesting. The class is called Reality Beyond Realism:
>>> >> Storytelling for/versus Enlightenment.
>>> >>
>>> >> It comes out of a tension I’ve been feeling in my own work in recent
>>> >> years. The tension is basically this. On the one hand, the telling of
>>> >> stories is maybe the original human activity. On the other hand,
>>> >> stories also seem to represent our most formidable limitation as
>>> >> individuals and as a species. Buddhism (and related traditions) seems
>>> >> to agree with contemporary science (neuroscience, quantum physics,
>>> >> etc) in the claim that our notion of individual “self” is ultimately a
>>> >> kind of delusion. A fiction we compulsively tell ourselves, which may
>>> >> have once been adaptive, but may no longer be so. There are stories at
>>> >> the bottom of all our sufferings and all our social strife. This is
>>> >> easy to see in personal psychological dysfunctions (depression,
>>> >> anxiety, etc.), political cynicism (which relies on limited and
>>> >> outmoded stories), as well as deliberate misinformation (i.e. "false"
>>> >> stories).
>>> >>
>>> >> So the tension leads to the question: can stories actually take us
>>> >> closer to individual and collective enlightenment? And the related
>>> >> question: Is what separates us from a more enlightened world the
>>> >> telling of bad stories, or the telling of stories altogether? As
>>> >> people who are uniquely attuned to the telling of stories—who may even
>>> >> look at (literary) storytelling as a kind of calling or chosen life’s
>>> >> work—is it possible for us to really use them for “good”? Can stories
>>> >> get us free, or do they only imprison us? Can they bring us closer to
>>> >> “absolute reality” or can they only distort our apprehension of
>>> >> things?
>>> >>
>>> >> So this “class” is a four-part inquiry where we will look at some of
>>> >> the conventions of Western realism as well as some texts that
>>> >> deliberately subvert those conventions (this will include some Pynchon
>>> >> excerpts, of course). We’ll try to see what other kinds of stories are
>>> >> possible or desirable, whether stories can be used to dismantle
>>> >> stories, or whether they inevitably entrap us in the constant karmic
>>> >> ping-pong of the world of forms.
>>> >>
>>> >> Some of those conventions of storytelling will include: the
>>> >> individuality of subjectivity, the linear and strictly forward
>>> >> movement of time, the mechanics of cause and effect, certain
>>> >> epistemological regimes and attendant values (including capitalism,
>>> >> scientism, post-Judeo-Christianity, etc.), as well as the more
>>> >> literary-specific conventions of stories built out of language (i.e.
>>> >> subject-verb containing sentences) and the form of the prose story
>>> >> (with its beginnings/middles/ends, conflicts and rising action and
>>> >> climaxes, etc.).
>>> >>
>>> >> The course will be four sessions, on consecutive Wednesdays, starting
>>> >> July 1, 6-8pm Eastern Standard Time. It’s run through this very cool
>>> >> organization called Incite Seminars, which is trying to bring
>>> >> ambitious learning out of neoliberal higher education institutions and
>>> >> rebuild it together with the people. They’re Philly-based, but now
>>> >> operating on Zoom. The classes run on an “enable-as-you-can” (i.e.
>>> >> donate-what-you-choose) structure. A few people have signed up already
>>> >> but I’d really love for there to be a diversity of
>>> >> perspectives/experiences involved. If you think you might know someone
>>> >> who would be interested, I’m including a link to the class page, where
>>> >> you can read the full description and fill out a registration form:
>>> >> https://inciteseminars.com/reality-not-realism/
>>> >>
>>> >> Also, if you have some favorite relevant excerpts, other reading
>>> >> suggestions, or ideas for the direction of the class, I'd be happy to
>>> >> hear and incorporate them.
>>> >>
>>> >> Love,
>>> >>
>>> >> Smoke
>>> >> --
>>> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>