[lit-ideas] Re: FW: Six Characters in Search of an Author
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 10:38:39 -0500
I couldn't agree more, and you expressed it beautifully. I think most harm
is unintentional because it feels right, as you say, which is what makes it
all the more frightening and powerful, especially because it often becomes
confused with love. That's why I keep insisting that love needs to be
defined. It's why the world is such a mess and why I think parenting
training needs to be required. It's also why parenting training doesn't
stand a chance, because for most people it means unlearning everything that
feels right.
Regarding the use of, as I accidentally discovered, in my case Glen
Campbell, those techniques have been codified into Jon Kabat-Zinn's work
and many other places. New Age meets Medical School.
Regarding if they gave a war and nobody came, there would be no mutilated
bodies, no grieving traumatized survivors, no damaged infrastructure, no
scorched polluted forests and a lot of money left over. Even with all of
that, war is still delectable enough to make it worth sacrificing the self
for. Sacrifice feels so right. Obviously an awful lot of people confuse
pain with love. That's all I have time for. Talk to you later.
> [Original Message]
> From: Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 12/27/2005 9:57:32 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: FW: Six Characters in Search of an Author
>
> Like the song says, "help me make it through the night." Whatever
> works. But it's very interesting what works. If you worked at it as a
> parent, you could instill that same kind of security and self-calming
> 'whatever' to recitation of the alphabet or the Mickey Mouse song or
> chocolate or self-mutilation. Quite frightening, really, the power of
> early training. The harm that is done unintentionally and
> thoughtlessly vastly dwarfs the harm done intentionally. If instilled
> early enough, the need and the response always feels, from the inside,
> like a native species, never a transplant. I suppose it was always the
> purpose of psychoanalysis to open one's eyes to the difference.
>
> We speak in class sometimes about the power of religion. Most of it
> lies firstly, as J. Campbell reminds us, in the mind and mood altering
> properties of the chanting, the call and response, the music, the
> incense, and the architecture (even the dressing up). Secondarily, in
> the easy answers, the strength and safety of community, the whiff of
> something greater, the ready-made purpose of life and the promise of
> immortality. Marx's opiate of the people.
>
> I think, sometimes, that our very success as a species hinges on our
> ability to be sheep. To respond without thinking. To tie on our boots
> and pick up our guns with high purpose. To sacrifice ourselves. If
> they gave a war and nobody came, where would we be? Who would we be?
>
> Ursula
> waning philosophical
> on a bright and beautiful morning
> in North Bay
>
>
> Mike Geary wrote:
>
> > US:
> >
> >> Superstitious behaviour works every time. I used to say the Lord's
> >> Prayer just under my breath whenever my kids woke at night.
> >> believed (still do) that my chanting put them magically back to sleep.
> >
> >
> > I'm sure I've recounted here my habit of praying the Hail Mary over
> > and over very rapidly whenever I feel an attack of panic. Works
> > everytime for me. And if I weren't an atheist, I'd say it was proof of
> > Catholic dogma. As a young person I used to pray the rosary
> > faithfully -- I was once a very different person, y'all -- and the
> > comfort I once found in faith I've found is transferable through blind
> > ritual. Carol K once remarked how little attention was paid to verbal
> > OCD as for example in prayer. Well, I've paid plenty of attention to
> > it, not in studying it but in practicing it and I thank the missing
> > God for my praying OCD, it's got me through a lot of dangerous
anxieties.
> >
> > Mike Geary
> > Memphis
>
>
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