[MD] woods

[MarshaV]

At 03:06 PM 1/15/2009, you wrote:


>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 8
>>Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:48:51 -0500
>>From: MarshaV <marshalz at charter.net>
>>Subject: Re: [MD] woods
>>To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
>>Message-ID:
>><20090115194852.KCWR128.aarprv06.charter.net at Marsha-PC.charter.net>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
>>
>>At 02:38 PM 1/15/2009, you wrote:
>>>Quick one: WHO IS THIS GUY?
>>
>>"In a society that thoroughly distrusts authority
>>of any sort, he had native personal magnetism
>>that singled him out in any group. In a society
>>that exalts moderation and the easiest way, he
>>was turbulent and could act violently upon
>>occasion. In a society that praises a pliant
>>personality that 'talks lots' ? that is, that
>>chatters in a friendly fashion ? he was scornful
>>and aloof. Zuni's only reaction to such
>>personalities is to brand them as witches. He was
>>said to have been peering through a window from
>>outside, and this is a sure mark of a witch. At
>>any rate he got drunk one day and boasted that
>>they could not kill him. He was taken before the
>>war priests who hung him by his thumbs from the
>>rafters till he should confess to his witchcraft.
>>This is the usual procedure in a charge of
>>witchcraft. However he dispatched a messenger to
>>the government troops. When they came his
>>shoulders were already crippled for life, and the
>>officer of the law was left with no recourse but
>>to imprison the war priests who had been
>>responsible for the enormity. One of these war
>>priests was probably the most respected and
>>important in recent Zuni history and when he
>>returned after imprisonment in the state
>>penitentiary he never resumed his priestly
>>offices. He regarded his power as broken. It was
>>a revenge that is probably unique in Zuni
>>history. It involved, of course, a challenge to
>>the priesthoods, against whom the witch by his act openly aligned himself.
>>
>>The course of his life in the forty years that
>>followed this defiance was not, however, what we
>>might easily predict. A witch is not barred from
>>his membership in cult groups because he has been
>>condemned, and the way to recognition lay through
>>such activity. He possessed a remarkable verbal
>>memory and a sweet singing voice. He learned
>>unbelievable stores of mythology, of esoteric
>>ritual, of cult songs. Many hundreds of pages of
>>stories and ritual poetry were taken down from
>>his dictation before he died, and he regarded his
>>songs as much more extensive. He became
>>indispensable in ceremonial life and before he
>>died was the governor of Zuni. The congenital
>>bent of his personality threw him into
>>irreconcilable conflict with his society, and he
>>solved his dilemma by turning an incidental
>>talent to account. As we might well expect, he
>>was not a happy man. As governor of Zuni and high
>>in his cult groups, a marked man in his
>>community, he was obsessed by death. He was a
>>cheated man in the midst of a mildly happy populace.
>>
>>It is easy to imagine the life he might have
>>lived among the Plains Indians where every
>>institution favoured the traits that were native
>>to him. The personal authority, the turbulence,
>>the scorn, would all have been honoured in the
>>career he could have made his own. The
>>unhappiness that was inseparable from his
>>temperament as a successful priest and governor
>>of Zuni would have had no place as a war chief of
>>the Cheyenne; it was not a function of the traits
>>of his native endowment but of the standards of
>>the culture in which he found no outlet for his native responses.
>>
>>When Phaedrus first read this passage he felt a
>>kind of eerie feeling - a feeling he might have
>>had if he had passed in front of a strange mirror
>>and suddenly seen a reflection of someone he'd
>>never expected to see. It was the same feeling he
>>got at the peyote meeting. This Zuni Indian was
>>not exactly someone else. "
>>
>>        (LILA, Chapter 10)



>Chris:
>No. It doesn't apply. Just like you can't justify it with DQ. We can 
>just look at the patterns of thought and judge them for what they 
>are. In this case: crap.


Chris,

Since this is all talkie-talk, I don't find it necessary to make a 
judgement at this time.


Marsha



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The Universe is uncaused, like a net of jewels in which each is a 
reflection of all the others in a fantastic, interrelated harmony without end.
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