Cuyler,
Experiential education, education by following the light, enlightenment,
a faith in one's reason as a tool to use in an unreasonable cosmos. A
faith in the process, to follow where the coincidences lead. There are
some areas in life where it is agreed to accept the zoning codes &
social contract, and others where we seek to break down the barriers,
inhibitions, patterns and explore what may come as it will. As recently
reminded to me by a lawyer we need to be cautious that too much
coincidence can also lead us into trouble that we would prefer to avoid.
Jung frames coincidence in his theories of synchronicity, of which I am
attracted, but I am increasingly finding a personal revulsion to the
concepts of a Collective Unconsious -- particularly when used as a
marketing tool -- and wonder if it is not an hallucinatory hoax. As with
yourself I am a student of the I-Ching. The theory of the Collective
Unconscious in part can be seen as the glue that holds coincidence,
alternate realities, and UFO sitings all togher as one. (And just
yesterday I read that in Ireland it is a tradition to make the tops of
fence-gate posts round so that Fairies will not dance on them
[obligatory histo-presto content].) My personal preference these days is
towards Collective Psychosis. I believe that we are all totally mad and
it is only through the invention of the social contract that we are not
each and every one of us institutionalized.
That I stand on a street corner in NYC, a corner that I do not ever
frequent, and a friend whom I have not seen in years, who lives nowhere
near the corner or even on the same continent, suddenly walks up and
says hello is a coincidence, I suppose, particularly since I had a
thought about them two days prior, but it is not necessarily life
changing. That I spend nine months wandering around in the wilderness
and within fifteen minutes of arriving home and without any prior
communications my friend drives into the driveway, that is an
interesting coincidence, I admit, spooky. I think to an extreme that it
is a coincidence that I wake up in the morning. I continue to look for
angels. You never know when you will meet one and yet you need to be
prepared for the encounter.
Those who discount coincidence as a viable mode of experience I think
presume that they have an understanding of how it all works... and I
suspect this is a very solid presumption and for them, not a
coincidence. I believe that some people need rules and order more than
others and in particular so that they may control their own psychosis.
We have discussed ritual here, but I have not seen a discussion of sign
and symbol in ritual and am curious the connection of sign & symbol on
coincidence. I am reminded that when I was engaged in writing a poem
about death by jumping that suddenly there were several deaths by
jumping, and other suicides close in to my life -- gross leaps indeed. A
friend who stopped taking photo portraits because his subjects were
dying. A kid in the neighborhood that witnessed a particularly gruesome
death of a playmate, and his falling into a vortex of sign & symbol, and
for quite a while a downward spiral of self-destruction ending with his
being detained for painting swastikas with black spray paint on the
ground in the local playground. He has since gone off to a productive
life in Army intelligence. It is not all coincidence, I admit, but I do
feel through experience that there is a very powerful set of events that
occur coinciding with ritual, sign and symbol. Which reminds me of
chilly nights spent on a hill in Newfield, NY drinking beer, playing w/
binoculars, and hoping that our collective desire would be delivered as
a message to the other side for a convivial visit. All the more reason
for me to want a long trumpet which I believe is an architectural
instrument in that it requires an attendant stone walled chamber for a
good acoustic effect. I'll settle for concrete block, but not EIFS.
As to the Chinese discovering America, I'd like to know if they had a
reason to think that there was something to discover.
][<
> Gross leaps we can do without, but - - - somehow there is a real topic
> here worth investigating.
--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
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