tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post2339362780770723290..comments2024-02-12T23:25:09.583-08:00Comments on Overweening Generalist: Gary Webb, Philip Marlowe, Robert Anton Wilson and Chapel Perilousmichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-33244327498245436992016-07-27T16:27:37.041-07:002016-07-27T16:27:37.041-07:00EDIT TO ADD:
Also, RAW and others have noted that...EDIT TO ADD:<br /><br />Also, RAW and others have noted that a mature, healthy sense of humor and the absurd seems underrated. <br /><br />Let us beware that that part of us we call "Ego" or "the self" is totally convinced it's running the whole show. When we learn to realize this is not true, the world gets more wonderful. Things become more at play. The Ludic asserts itself.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-40315550577846697002016-07-27T16:24:16.121-07:002016-07-27T16:24:16.121-07:00@BrentQ-
Good examples. We're on the same pag...@BrentQ-<br /><br />Good examples. We're on the same pages. When you write that you've "often had moments" from your own reading? Books have been my trap door into Chapel Perilous, so far.<br /><br />The theme in Kafka of being stuck in vast impersonal bureaucracy fits here too. <br /><br />Somehow this riff harmonizes with delving into That Which Ought Not Be Spoken About (taboo subjects in society), but I have to think more on this.<br /><br />What I didn't add in the article: RAW's not-to-be-taken-lightly warning to "arm" yourself in case you find your way inside. You need the wand of intuition, the cup of sympathy, the sword of reason, and the pentacle of valor. <br /><br />Similarly, beware the power of psychedelics and ceremonial magick: it is advised that one have a grounding in scientific doubt, logic, some forms of psychotherapy, some background in neuroscience and yogas, etc.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-4263033654312848632016-07-27T13:02:01.704-07:002016-07-27T13:02:01.704-07:00Very interesting piece!
Since I first delved into...Very interesting piece!<br /><br />Since I first delved into RAW in my mid 20's, the concept of Chapel Perilous has stayed with me. In the years since, I've come to see the Initiation/Chapel Perilous archetype in the lives and stories of some of my favourite authors. A few of my fave examples:<br /><br />-Terence and Dennis McKenna's experience a La Chorrera.<br />-Carl Jung during his Red Book period.<br />-Philip K. Dick's 2-3-74 (paralleling RAW's own experience at that time.)<br />-Pretty much all of Thomas Pynchon's novels.<br />-Many of Jorge Luis Borges stories such Death and the Compass and Garden of the Forking Paths's<br /><br />I've often had moments after reading about other people's labyrinthine ontological adventures I find that I've entered my own mini Chapel Perilous.BrentQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13348133246050450327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-59494308174891099752016-07-27T11:52:07.926-07:002016-07-27T11:52:07.926-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.BrentQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13348133246050450327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-20813524135829760662016-07-17T03:55:20.999-07:002016-07-17T03:55:20.999-07:00@Tom -
Yes, Illuminatus! may be the example ne pl...@Tom -<br /><br />Yes, Illuminatus! may be the example ne plus ultra of this stuff stuff in modern literature - and by the end it's quite "meta-" so what do we make of the events experienced by the characters before they realize they're characters in a book, and after they know?<br /><br />Bringing this back to Weston's guess: that those Chapel Perilous tales in Grail stories were about "initiation" or something that prepared one for an initiatory ordeal: I think reading Illuminatus! (and really" the HIC - Historical Illuminatus Chronicles Trilogy - are about the "same thing") and also Eco's Foucault's Pendulum - where some of the characters seem quite aware that the "meta" level of pursuing old secret societies increases the potential a given person will get pulled into some sort of Chapel Perilous? My personal experience with these two and a handful of other texts has indeed precipitated at least a 6-8 week-long ontological emergency, and vertiginous thought-patterns, palms abnormally sweaty, etc. I so testify...<br /><br />With the weight of your own longstanding experience in journalism: Your final paragraph nets you the win here. This was a short passage I thought of all day; I felt dogged all day by a little red demon that kept popping from out from nowhere and nailing me in the neck with a red-hot pea-shooter. And I know: you're merely the messenger.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-15834622143401677882016-07-16T06:54:31.289-07:002016-07-16T06:54:31.289-07:00Of course, the prime example of starting out as an...Of course, the prime example of starting out as an apparent crime mystery and then finding yourself in Chapel Perilous would be Illuminatus!<br /><br />"From Ritual to Romance" is available as an ebook (in various formats) at Project Gutenberg:<br /><br />http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4090<br /><br />It is enormously difficult for reporters not to be "captured" by the government agencies they are trying to cover. Read the AP story on the release of the "28 pages" kept secret for years, and also read the actual report; notice how the journalist's account adopts the government's spin. It is also important, as you note, for the reporter to have the reporter's back. Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-34825820796650014032016-07-16T03:50:15.787-07:002016-07-16T03:50:15.787-07:00Thanks, Eric.
I read Weston via her index for a l...Thanks, Eric.<br /><br />I read Weston via her index for a long while, then a point arose when I felt I could hang with her presentation and style. How influential she's been!<br /><br />The lighting in the James Garner Marlowe never fails to disappoint: that moment may have been the nadir for moody high contrast cinematography. <br /><br />I suspect the makers of Spotlight consulted All the President's Men more than a few times. From a certain critical view, Spotlight is an epigone of Pakula's film, but the subject matter is the totally compelling thing here. Not the action. Not avant-garde editing techniques, or outstanding acting, etc.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-9578642435641234362016-07-15T11:47:24.808-07:002016-07-15T11:47:24.808-07:00Terrific piece. I haven't finished From Ritual...Terrific piece. I haven't finished From Ritual to Romance. I enjoyed James Garner and Bruce Lee in the film Marlowe. I suspect you would David Thomson's trippy noir novel Suspects.<br /><br />I love All the President's Men. Screenwriter William Goldman has had a big influence on me.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.com