COL49 - Group Read p 139-145 (H&R)

[David Morris]

*Dr Hilarious, Jung, and Freud*
(Not “Dr Hilarious, Nazi”)

I think the focus Pynchon really had in mind was the *difference of
approach to the mind* that these two GIANTS ended up taking. The old man,
Freud, was initially just that: the father of MODERN *psychology*.

Jung was Initially Freud’s student and colleague, but then became his
APOSTATE. Freud was looking for pure science, because that’s what Modernity
IS. Jung Got bored, and peaked behind the curtains. He SELF-dove deeply
into psychosis, his own personal variety, willingly voluntarily. He was a
true Pre psychedelic day tripper. And what he discovered was a world of
spirituality that had long been practiced by indigenous people all over the
world.

Mort to come…
Google Freud versus Young, and you will see a hell of a lot to sift through.

David Morris

On Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 7:50 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> This section is focused on Oed’s return to Mucho immediately after the Dr.
> Hilarious psychotic breakdown. [After this post, I will return to this
> episode with Dr. Hilarious, and specifically the Freud/Jung references]
>
> After she’s released from being held hostage at gunpoint by Dr Hilarious,
> Oed Is interviewed by Mucho in the radio station mobile Van. And gives her
> a new name on air.
>
> They return to KCUF studio. Muchos boss, Caesar Funch, tells Oed That he’s
> concerned about Mucho:  “Wendell is less himself and more generic. He is
> […] full of people, you know? He’s a walking assembly of man.” [not  “of
> men”?] I don’t know what he means when he says, “They’re calling him the
> Brothers N.”
>
> At lunch Mucho asks her directly, “ How are you getting on with Metzger?”
>  And with the Equanimity of Buddha, he says he already knows the answer.
>
> He fixates on the sound of one violinist in a symphony playing on Muzak.
> The Quality of the sound which demands his attention is its REALness. The
> question of whether something is REAL is foundational in this book. Here
> the “real” is contrasted with “synthetic.” Many other conceptual dualities
> for questioning what is real are explored in this book and in other Pynchon
> works.
>
> Mucho tells Oed that he is able to “Listen to anything [real/heard sounds],
> and process/synthesize them in his mind, break them down to their “Pure“
> tones. His mind purifies the LIFE out, leaving eternally dead/preserved
> basic frequencies.
>
> ****OR****
>
> Is it possible that he is his removing his own interpretations…. His own
> baggage, his own prejudices, and actually hearing what is real for the
> first time?
>
> Mucho expands “Rich, chocolatey, goodness” into a mantra, then transforms
> that sound frequency, through non-dualism, into becoming ONE with the
> Universe.
>
> In short: Does the mind take “raw” input and then purify it?  or pollute
> it?
>
> Then Mucho smiles, and pulls out his Magic pills, compliments of Dr.
> Hilarious.
>
> Mucho reports that he is now free of nightmares. He is now full of the
> abundance of the world, and he is able to expand his consciousness, so that
> he can absorb even more.
>
> Oed believes the pills have artificially altered Mucho’s interactions with
> the world. In her mind, his connection to reality has dissipated, and
> “she’d seen Mucho for the last time,” as she declares she is leaving
> “Tonight,”
>
> David Morris
>
>