tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post7109911907462349399..comments2024-02-12T23:25:09.583-08:00Comments on Overweening Generalist: An Octad of Items For Your Delectationmichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-25778776543867168812016-01-28T22:20:30.890-08:002016-01-28T22:20:30.890-08:00@ Tom: I hadn't thought of #1 and #3 together,...@ Tom: I hadn't thought of #1 and #3 together, but yes, that's valid and funny!<br /><br />Meanwhile, I have Richard Powers's _Goldbug Variations_ very near the top of my sky-high stack, mostly because you've recommended it so highly (and all the tangential reading I've done around Powers makes him smell like genius). Powers is not in the batter's box, nor is he on-deck or in the hole, but as I look at my stack (while keeping my ears out for the FAA), he's going up to the bat rack.<br /><br />And so, to mix metaphors: Go Cavs!michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-52606353543386232112016-01-28T22:14:19.049-08:002016-01-28T22:14:19.049-08:00@Eric: Interesting: the reconciling of Ibn 'Ar...@Eric: Interesting: the reconciling of Ibn 'Arabi and RAW!<br /><br />In my reading of RAW, in the last 15 yrs of his life his own metaphysics - which were never boldly stated - were more hinted at than in his earlier works. I think there's quite a lot there in his readings of "reality" and language and humans as both individuals with the spark of unique infinitude and as social beings who need to love each other. Maybe the most overt (for him) statement about his own metaphysics can be found in Cosmic Trigger Vol 3, chapter 37:<br /><br />After discussing "masks" and multiple perspectives and the liberating experience of seeing all maps of "reality" as masks, RAW writes, "If we try to write about this post-liberation experience, we perforce produce metaphysics. This can take the form of the incomprehensible and mind-boggling brands of philosophy normally called 'metaphysics' or some new form, breaking the rules of ordinary literature, to jar 'the' reader, or should I say a few readers, into the new perspective we wish to share. Joyce's prose, Yeats's poetry, the paradoxes of Charles Fort, the 'occult' jokebooks of Crowley, all represent such grotesque masks, created to free us from believing in the more deceptive social masks. Like metaphysics, they mean more (and other) than they say, and never mean anything _literally_. As Wilde said, 'The reality of metaphysics is the reality of masks.'"<br /><br />Or so I read him as of this date.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-79494843402301445582016-01-28T18:45:23.040-08:002016-01-28T18:45:23.040-08:00#1 and #3, It seems to me that if you ever encount...#1 and #3, It seems to me that if you ever encountered situation No. 3, you could test the theory in No. 1. Would you have the presence of mind to split before the crazed poetry lover pulled out the knife?<br /><br />#8 The idea of encoding information in the genetic code is a central them of Richard Powers, one of my favorite writers. In his latest novel, "Orfeo," a composer comes up with the idea of writing a "piece" in the genetic code of a bacteria (the authorities frown on this, and he winds up being labelled the "Bioterrorist Bach.") And in a long short story he wrote recently, "Genie," the genetic code is used to transmit information from a long-ago first contact with extraterrestrials.<br /><br />#6 I love this sentence: "The plate piles with books into the ionosphere, and Air Traffic Control and the Federal Aviation Administration is constantly on my ass over this." Oh, how I can relate. I have unread books all over the house, and unread books on my Kindle. Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-25521412363255420922016-01-28T09:56:20.382-08:002016-01-28T09:56:20.382-08:00I suspect you have reached the correct conclusion ...I suspect you have reached the correct conclusion that Bob disagreed with Krakauer's hypothesis.<br /><br />I consider Ibn 'Arabi my favorite metaphysician. I had to look up the definition of metaphysics. I don't use that word much. I don't understand Ibn 'Arabi very well. Rafi Zabor has helped me there. Of course a large part of my way of understanding the world came from Bob Wilson. (He also avoided the term "metaphysics".) My challenges reconciling 'Arabi and Wilson have shaped a lot of my world in the last decade.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-75465343864326257202016-01-26T00:52:40.696-08:002016-01-26T00:52:40.696-08:00Interesting to contrast The Wire with Z: I agree. ...Interesting to contrast The Wire with Z: I agree. <br /><br />Our popular culture tends to mythologize police work. The perception of the legitimacy of the police has a lot to do with who you are, where you're coming from, personal experience, and wealth. <br /><br />The work of Greif here, and Egon Bittner, Peter K. Manning, and Erving Goffman, when read, can't help but make anyone see the police in a new light. <br /><br />Speaking of post-literate: I thought of you when I watched the 2014 doc _From Caligari to Hitler_ on Netflix. It was filled with marvelous footage. It's mostly a reinforcement of Kracauer's thesis, although I'm well aware of the contestations made about Kracauer's POV, and RAW's satire on it. Do you think the main reason RAW satirized it was because he disagreed with the thesis (I think he did disagree), or because Wilhelm Reich's model of fascism was far more robust? Or something else?<br /><br />I know this might sound like an odd Q, but what/who is your favorite metaphysics/metaphysician? And why?michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-82466540251120164882016-01-25T07:29:05.098-08:002016-01-25T07:29:05.098-08:00Yet another terrific piece.
1. This makes me thin...Yet another terrific piece.<br /><br />1. This makes me think of the TV show "The Walking Dead" and why I love it so much. It also makes me think about obesity and other addiction related behavior.<br /><br />2. I find discussions with students about the police sobering. Many of them do not see patterns of racist behavior by police in our society. I love "The Wire", but it seems less realistic to me now because it does not deal with institutional racism. I just watched "Z" and I loved how it presented the role of the police.<br /><br />3. Poetry, prose, and Korzybksi seem less relevant to me in our post-literate world.<br /><br />6. This makes me think of Zukofsky's discussion of such subjects. I don't really follow him when he writes about Spinoza and metaphysics.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.com