virus: Silence

Reed Konsler (konsler@ascat.harvard.edu)
Sun, 28 Mar 1999 18:08:39 -0500

>Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 16:55:41 +0000
>From: Robin Faichney <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk>
>Subject: Re: virus: BNW revisited
>
>In message <199903270153.UAA08253@websmtp1.bellsouth.bigfoot.com>, joe
>dees <joedees@bellsouth.net> writes
>>
>>I have earlier remarked that BNW was not the mature expression of Aldous
>>Huxley's utopian thought; that rather ISLAND was.
>
>I haven't been following this thread, but having noticed
>this sentence, I have to respond: the notion of Brave
>New World as a utopia is very strange. It is in fact the
>exact opposite: a distopia. Unlike Island, which
>certainly is utopian.
>- --
>Robin

Utopia: The place which is no place. Within the tradition of utopian literature there is a distinct ambivalence between the concepts of the pure good and pure evil. What is probably more true is that purity of any sort is an unattainable state and neurotic attempts at personal or societal purification are ultimately self-destructive. You can only shave so close before you're cutting your own arteries, as those little hairs are entangled with the vessels of our lifesblood.

As an analogy, Richard might refer to some things as "core needs". I might call them essential elements of consciousness. The reason that I'm a little ambivalent about Buddhism (and the derived vision in _Island_) is that...to be honest...I don't believe it. I can meditate myself into a state of nothingness but the moment I move <I> move. There is no Cartesian <I> seperate from my physical existence. I've spent a lot of time contemplating <stillness> and it isn't so attractive to <me>.

So, which meme should <I> favor, <Me>, <Myself>, and <I>...a holy trinity, no? What am I offered as an alternative, <silence>?

Is my meta-message breaking through here? Let me not be accused of being obtuse. The central meme of _Island_ is the parable of the white lotus (or orchid?) Speaking of utopia, or of the clear light of understanding, in WORDS is futile.

The MEDIUM is the MESSAGE.

Using this forum, we each automatically accept the rules of phonetic language and memetic transfer. The inherent message of stillness can't ever be expressed, except as David indicated...in silence. But, as Emerson tells us, silence is death.

Which is, of course, why Susan Blackmore wrote a book recommending that we all weed our minds and practice silence...so that OUR MINDS MIGHT BE BETTER VECTORS FOR THE MEMES IN HER HEAD.

To paraphrase:
"Would you all just be quiet! I can't hear myself think!"

Can you see it? It never ends, it escalates. It is never still except as preparation for the next expansion. There is no single clear light, there are many...each a flash before the darkness of the next confusion.

That is why a flower is such a good analogy...it's always unfolding.

Reed 

  Reed Konsler                        konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------