[MD] Gaia And Dostoevsy

[gav]

thanks john,
there's a lot in that.
reminds me of the archetypes of the magician and high priestess in tarot (major arcana 1 and 2), which equate with yang and yin in taoism.
the magician - the initial male creative force, needs to be grounded in the earth - the mother female.
 
brings to mind the multitude of cosmogonies that illustrate the same notion - heaven merging with earth through the human being.

i think the central issue is wholeness. the individual is always divine and always privy to the divine joy of his existence, no matter what abasement he inflicts upon himself. indeed the depths of despair are separated from the highest exultation by the flimsiest of veils.
and of course there is a vertiginous appeal of the downward spiral...indeed the depths are not only tempting but necessary. the tarot is a great education in this: the death and devil cards especially highlight the need for travail and also the notion that the devil is god's (jungian) shadow.

that is what annoys me most about religion - even eastern stuff, imported into the west, often loses this totality of vision - the understanding that everything is holy and that you don't have to be good, you just have to be whole (holy).

sometimes i get down on myself - too much apathy, procrastination and too much booze and fags etc...and then i'll go hard one night, drawn into the debauch and once more i feel the holiness of what i am doing - the 'fuck it' attitude - and i'll dance and drink and behave like a nutter blissed out on the mad stupid joy of it all....waking up to a hangover sure, but also that sense of release...the divine transmutation, or as iggy would say - gone and kicked out the jams.

i guess, in the final wash up, it brings me back to miller - which is normal for me, i love the guy - america's saint. you see miller reminds me to accept, totally. the world is order incarnate, we have only to align with this order (the tao). this total acceptance is the joyous acceptance of all the gloriously abundant cruelty and stupidity, and a reminder to maintain that genuine and unmeek humility in the face of it all. if the world fucks out it fucks out - but how fucking great to be alive!



--- On Thu, 18/2/10, John Carl <ridgecoyote at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: John Carl <ridgecoyote at gmail.com>
> Subject: [MD] Gaia And Dostoevsy
> To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> Received: Thursday, 18 February, 2010, 3:33 PM
> I can't find the thread but Mark and
> gav were discussing Gaia and it rang a
> bell over a bit I'd just read somewhere, couldn't find it,
> kept looking and
> hey, here it was in the Brother's K, something I have
> started about 10 times
> but never got close to finishing, but still can't put away
> because it keeps
> beckoning with its poetry and prose like this:
> 
> Raising up his soul from vileness
> Reaching for his human worth,
> Man must enter an alliance
> With eternal Mother Earth.
> 
> I read that and just don't get it... I mean, this was
> written in Russian, a
> language whose letters are so confusing I can't even keep
> 'em straight and
> yet it rhymes and rhythms perfectly in English. 
> What?  Is this guys
> speaking in some sort of cosmic tongues?
> 
> Continuing:
> 
> 
> "But what makes it hard for me is that I don't know how I
> could possibly
> enter that eternal alliance with Mother Earth.  I
> don't kiss Mother Earth, I
> don't plow her soil.... Should I then, become a peasant, a
> shepherd, or
> what?  I go on and on, and I don't know where I'll
> find myself next--in
> stench and disgrace or in light and joy.  And that's
> where the main trouble
> lies: everything in this world is a puzzle.  Whenever
> I've sunk into the
> deepest shame of depravity--and that has happened to me
> more often than
> anything else--I've always recited that poem about the
> goddess Ceres and
> man's fate.  But has it reformed me? No--Because I'm a
> Karamozov, because if
> I must plunge into the abyss, I'll go head first, feet in
> air.  I'll even
> find a certain pleasure in falling in such a humiliating
> way.  I'll even
> think that it's a beautiful exit for a man like me. 
> and so, in the very
> midst of my degradation, I suddenly intone a hymn. Even if
> I must be damned,
> even if I am low and despicable, I must still be allowed to
> kiss the hem of
> the veil in which my God is shrouded; and even if I may be
> following the
> devil's footsteps, I am still Your son, O Lord, and I love
> You, and feel the
> joy without which the world cannot be.
> 
> 
> Joy eternal pours its fires
> In the soul of God's creation,
> And its sparkle then inspires
> Life's mysterious fermentation.
> 
> Joy fills with light the plant's green faces,
> Regulates the planets' runs,
> Fills immeasurable spaces
> With innumerable suns.
> 
> All things drink with great elation
> Mother Nature's milk of joy,
> Plant and beast and man and nation
> Sweetness of her breast enjoy.
> To man prostrated in the dust,
> Joy brings friends and cheering wine;
> Gives the insects sensual lust,
> Angels--happiness divine.
> 
> ----
> 
> "Insects sensual lust"?  Eat your heart out,
> Wordsworth.
> 
> 
> John
> Moq_Discuss mailing list
> Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc.
> http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org
> Archives:
> http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/
> http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
>